Japanese fast-food chain plans expansion in PH

Japanese fast-food chain operator Ringer Hut Co. Ltd. is planning to set up shop in the Philippines through a joint venture with local partners.

Tokyo Consulting, acting on behalf of Ringer Hut, recently wrote to the Securities and Exchange Commission expressing intention to set up a local joint venture of which the Japanese company will own 40 percent while Filipino entities will own 60 percent.

The consultant inquired with the SEC on the minimum capitalization and investment per store required under the domestic retail trade rules.

The SEC, for its part, said Ringer Hut and its joint-venture partners could invest in the restaurant business if they could put up the peso equivalent of $2.5 million as minimum paid-up capital.

If Ringer Hut would open a wholly owned branch by itself, the SEC noted that it must comply with the minimum investment per store of $830,000.

Founded in Nagasaki in 1962 but now headquartered in Tokyo, Ringer Hut has been expanding to new markets in the region. The chain has 600 franchised stores in Japan.

Overseas, Ringer Hut has 16 stores in six countries: Five in the United States.; five in Thailand; two each in Hong Kong and Indonesia, and one each in Taiwan and Cambodia. It is also setting up shop in Vietnam.

The Japanese company’s goal is to operate 50 stores overseas by 2020.

The group opened its first Champon restaurant in 1974 in Nagasaki, afterwards expanding all over Japan and becoming “one of the leading restaurant operators representing Japanese food.”