Grab aims to open 10 more restaurants in 2016

The chain, which has just opened its third London site in Lovat Lane, Monument, is looking to expand further around the Capital.

Neetibut Vasinondha, co-founder and managing director of Grab, told BigHospitality the company is searching for sites in areas popular with office workers, as the offering centres around breakfast and lunch.

“We look for locations in high office density areas. Grab is all about the everyday experience of enjoying wholesome and affordable Thai food on the go,” he said.

Vasinondha accepts that the public may not consider Thai food for breakfast but he wants to change that opinion.

“At present our product offering moves very well at lunchtime but breakfast is still a challenge for us. Most probably because who thinks of Thai food in the morning anyway? That said; we are not giving up and will continue to our efforts to bring a fresh and exciting take on breakfast to our customers,” he said.

The company will have to experiment to see what works well to achieve success in a saturated market, which it is not afraid to do:

“We are still at an early stage of growth so we are still experimenting with various types of properties available; kiosks, micro-units under-300sq.ft, small to medium 300 to 1,500sq.ft,” Vasinondha continued.

“We compete in a very competitive market against established brands with the likes of Pret A Manger, POD, ITSU and Leon, to name a few, who are constantly expanding with even more grand plans,” he said.

“They are dominating the breakfast and lunch market; situated in the very best locations, delivering consistency in speed of service and really harvesting on the strength of their brand name.”

The expansion will be funded by their partnership with Thailand’s Minor Food Group.