T

exas-based chicken restaurant chain Wingstop made its Indonesia debut with the opening of an outlet inside middle-end Kota Kasablanka mall on Monday, with PT Mega Mahadana Hadiya (Mahadya) acting as the sole franchisor.

Wingstop president and CEO Charlie Morrison said during the launch event that Indonesia would be a big market for the brand as the country'€™s population was huge and its gross domestic product (GDP) continued to grow.

'€œI think the potential is here for Indonesia to lead the Wingstop brand in Southeast Asia,'€ he said, referring to the country'€™s 240 million-population and rising middle class.

Mahadya '€” which is the retail business unit of diversified conglomerate PT Mahadana Dasha Utama (MahaDasha), which operates the Carl'€™s Jr. franchise other than supermarkets, coffee shops and bakeries '€” even plans to take further steps to make Indonesia'€™s Wingstop the biggest in terms of the number of outlets in Asia.

Mahadya chief operating officer for food and beverages Mehdi Zaidi said his firm had targeted to open 100 outlets across the country in seven years, with a total investment of between US$220,000 and $250,000 for each outlet.

'€œFor this year alone, five locations for new stores have been confirmed and we have many locations [including those outside the Greater Jakarta area] in the pipeline,'€ he said, adding the next stores would be opened in the Setiabudi Building (Jakarta), Bintaro Xchange Mall (Banten) and Margo City (West Java).

Zaidi said his firm would also look into possibilities to open outlets, including stand-alone outlets, in fast growing cities in eastern part of the country, such as cities in Kalimantan and Sulawesi.

He added that Indonesia'€™s Wingstop, which sold its chicken wing products at around Rp 60,000 ($5.08) for a meal package, would mainly target the country'€™s upper-middle class.

Morrison said with a total of 100 outlets, Indonesia would become Wingstop'€™s biggest market in Asia.

He said Wingstop had a total of over 600 outlets throughout the US, Mexico, Russia, Singapore and the Philippines.

'€œFrom those, we'€™re target to open as many as 20 outlets in Singapore and 50 in Manila,'€ he said.

Morrison said he expected Wingstop could annually grow by between 15 and 20 percent in revenue in Indonesia, surpassing its annual revenue growth of between 10 and 20 percent in its US market.

As chicken was a big part of the Indonesian diet, business prospects in the country were substantial, Zaidi went on.

'€œIn the US, Wingstop has become a favorite for Hispanics and Asians, while many local residents opt for beef or pork as their main diet. Here in Indonesia, people consume more chicken than beef or pork,'€ he said.

Indonesia'€™s chicken consumption reached 4.1 kilograms (kg) per capita last year, while beef consumption hit 0.3 kg per capita, according to data from the Agriculture Ministry.

Zaidi added Wingstop would also be targeting around 350 customers a day, as it offered a different experience compared to other chicken restaurant chains.

'€œOne thing that makes us standout is that our main focus is selling fried chicken wings with 10
different American flavors,'€ he said, adding that his firm also planned to develop local flavors in the future.

He said that unlike most chicken restaurant chains, such as KFC and McDonald'€™s, which adopted for a fast-food concept, Wingstop adopted a fast-casual concept, in which the food would be freshly made.

Apart from developing Wingstop, Zaidi added that his firm aimed to expand its retail portfolio by planning to hold a franchise license for a global coffee shop and Japanese restaurant chains.