Opportunity Blog

On our website (near the bottom of the page) we say there are no chain restaurants in Nang Rong. 

Well, that is no longer completely true, but maybe not completely false either. A new Kentucky Fried Chicken franchise opened there around the end of the dry season (March) this year. It is located within the Tewikit mall which is out on highway 24. Tewikit is a small department/discount/grocery store, part of a small chain whose two main stores are in Buriram city. KFC’s are located in each of those, so I guess Nang Rong was the next biggest store and the next place to try. It is really half a KFC with only about half their offerings available. The front counter area seems very small, hardly there. There was one employee that I could see and I don’t believe there were any customers present when I checked it out.  

Are the other chains watching, ready to move in should the KFC prove successful? I wouldn’t mind a Pizza Company or a Dairy Queen here. They sell food that I cannot get without traveling to Buriram city or to Korat. I sometimes eat at KFC when in Bangkok or other cities, but in Nang Rong I know places to go for good chicken. The very best chicken I’ve had in the area is barbequed at a roadside place across from the Chalearm Pragaid regional hospital just a few miles east of Nang Rong. With their low overhead the cost is about a sixth of KFC and the view is great. I was standing with my back to a lake when I took the picture.

Some of the more knowledgeable Thais in the area give a low probability for success for this new KFC venture, and I think the franchisers of the fast food places in Thailand are quick to close down outlets that don’t meet their sale minimums.

We won’t change that website entry just yet.