London Inc. September 2021 - 24
Upfront Expansion
THAIFOON'S
NEXT COURSE
Adding a second location
at CF Masonville Place,
the popular downtown
restaurant has a vision -
and ambitions to match
MAY 2020, HEIGHT of the pandemic,
and Fouzan Beg saw an opportunity.
The owner of Thaifoon, a popular
Thai restaurant on Dundas Street
(www.thaifoonrestaurant.com), had
heard the news that the South Africanfounded
chicken chain Nando's would
be closing 21 of their corporate-owned
locations in Canada, including the
location at CF Masonville Place.
" Right away, I took my son - we
didn't even have breakfast. I said,
'Buddy, you gotta come with me, and
I took him to Nando's, " Beg recalls. " I
asked him for his opinion. 'What do
you think, should we come here?' And
he said, 'Yeah, let's do it.' "
Out of the mouths of babes.
Call it a next chapter, then. Founded
in 2005 by Eddy Phimphrachanh,
Beg took over ownership of Thaifoon
on May 1, 2014. At the time, he said
to himself, " I will do this until May 1,
2020. Okay. Six years. "
Then the pandemic rolled around,
forcing several franchised food operators
to put the brakes on expansion,
revisit their business models and, in
cases such as Nando's, shave their
operations.
Of course, all of this also ended up
putting some prime locations on the
market. And for Beg, it wasn't much of
a stretch to see what the Masonville
Place unit could become. " It started
as just a vision, really. To rebrand it, to
renovate it, " he says.
" We have so many guests that come
downtown from the north end, and
downtown is being so developed with
high-rises, that's why I felt like it may
be an opportunity. I remember saying
to myself, 'I think I have something
here.' "
For Beg, that " something " was the
opportunity to step up from being a
single independent restaurant operator
and to bring the Thaifoon brand
to a new level. He says the unit he has
created in the north end is " elevated,
in the sense that the space has better
finishes and the vibe itself is a little bit
more polished looking. "
And while uniformed chefs in a visibly
professional kitchen might seem
like a unexpected addition to a mall
setting, the move away from foodcourt
offerings to casual dining and
higher-end eateries at malls is a trend
taking hold globally.
" When it comes to the experience of
food choice in the mall, a renaissance
is coming, " reads a report by Deloitte
titled The Future of the Mall. Operators
24 | londonincmagazine.ca | SEPTEMBER 2021
http://www.thaifoonrestaurant.com
http://www.londonincmagazine.ca
London Inc. September 2021
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