6 April 2015 – The Star
KUCHING: Borneo Oil Bhd, which is the master licensee for international pizza chain Pezzo in Sabah and Sarawak, expects to open at least 15 Pezzo kiosks in Sabah and Sarawak by this December.
Executive director Raymond Teo said wholly owned subsidiary, SB Supply Logistics Sdn Bhd, was in the process of signing up nine Pezzo franchisees, about half of them also franchisees of Borneo Oil’s fast-food chain, SugarBun.
There are currently 75 SugarBun franchised outlets in Malaysia and abroad.
The fast-food chain is under another subsidiary – SB Franchise Management Sdn Bhd.
Teo said the company has planned for Pezzo kiosks in major shopping malls in Sarawak, with the first expected to open its doors in The Spring here by next month.
The pioneer Borneo Oil-owned Pezzo kiosk has reported brisk business after opening its doors in Kota Kinabalu three months ago.
He said as the total set-up cost for a 200-sq-ft Pezzo kiosk was less than RM200,000, it was easier to attract investors as compared to setting up most other franchised fast-food restaurants, which required a big capital outlay.
The other advantage is it is hassle-free to establish a kiosk due to the small footprint.
“We secured the master licence for the Pezzo pizza brand last November due to its uniqueness and customer-friendly concept that set us apart from other pizza brands. Pezzo is selling pizza by slices or by the largest size of a 14-inch pan based on the takeaway concept.
“There is a huge market to tap in Sabah and Sarawak for Pezzo pizza, which originated from Singapore, where there are currently 24 Pezzo kiosks,” Teo told StarBiz.
There are up to 14 variety of pizzas customers can pick from.
They can choose to have just one slice or a combination of slices of different varieties, or a whole pizza.
The brand story of Pezzo is a travelling circus, where each pizza is envisioned as a “character” from the circus, with fun names such as Hot Chick (chicken pizza) or Meat Munchers.
Teo said Pezzo pizza complemented the home-grown SugarBun fast-food business, which is popular, especially among Sarawakians.
In the past 12 months,16 new SugarBun restaurants were opened in Malaysia and one in Brunei.
There are currently 65 outlets in Malaysia, most of them in major and secondary Sarawak towns, and 10 in Brunei, Australia, China and Bangladesh.
SugarBun’s total sales rose to RM91mil in the financial year ended Jan 31, 2015 (FY15) against RM86mil in FY14.
“With SugarBun and Pezzo pizza, we can easily hit total sales of RM100mil in the current financial year,” said Teo.
He said Borneo Oil was actively scouting around for an ideal location to set up a new fast-food central processing plant here, as the existing plant on a rented premise was inadequate to cope with the expanding SugarBun franchised operations.
“We have identified several locations, including existing factories in Demak Laut Industrial Park, which is close to the Senari deep-sea port.
“We may take over an old factory and renovate it for the new processing plant,” he said, adding that the project would be funded by an RM5mil allocation, which was part of the proceeds from Borneo Oil’s private placement last October.
Teo said sitting the new plant near to the port would significantly reduce transportation costs, as the existing plant at Mile10, Kuching-Serian Road, is about 25km from the port.
