Singapore-based high-end seafood chain Jumbo has opened two new locations targeting China's smaller regional cities on the southeast coast and in the northwest inland.
The company – which also trades under its Mandarin name Zhen Bao – opened its sixth outlet in the upmarket SKP building on North Chang’an St in Xi’an. Soon after, it opened another restaurant at the Dongbai Centre, a mall in the east coast city of Fuzhou, according to the Fuzhou Chamber of Commerce. The Dongbai mall is home to stores operated by luxury brands like Gucci. The Jumbo opening there follows the opening of outlets in Beijing and Shanghai by the Singaporean chain a decade ago, after the chain became a hit with Chinese tourists in Singapore.
China’s seafood restaurant chains have been aiming at the country’s smaller regional cities in recent years to tap into increased growth outside the first-tier cities. The homegrown “Xu Ji Hai Xian” chain also opened its 22nd outlet in the north-westerly city of Xi’an recently. It’s the firm’s fourth branch in Xi’an and gives Xu Ji Hai Xian 6,000 square meters of floor space - 1,200 dining places – in the city. The chain started in Changsha in 1999 and has a turnover of CNY 4 billion (USD 600 million, EUR 514 million) per year.
China’s full-service restaurant market is enjoying double-digit growth in value terms. Retail Sales Price for all full-service restaurants in China is worth over CNY 3 trillion (USD 450 billion, EUR 385 billion) per annum, according to Shanghai-based OC&C Strategy Consultants.
