Shabu Bootueng…No.1 of Shabu kingdom
“Shabu restaurant” is currently considered to be one of the most popular choices for diners nowadays. Due to its simple ingredients, easy-to-prepare process and this kind of food can be enjoyed at all time. Thus the number of Shabu restaurants has grown so fast recently. But the special factor that makes Shabu Bootueng so different from other Shabu restaurants is the soup, which its recipe originally comes from the restaurant itself along with variety of dipping sauces. They even create a gimmick by naming each menu after the characters from Chinese action movies. Followed by the unique ingredients, which will be served to customers before everybody else, such as Koh Khun Beef, Scallops and Kurobuta Pork. This restaurant is said to be the first one in province areas to serve premium selections of ingredients with affordable prices. That’s why this restaurant has to welcome customers up to 160 seats per 1 branch and up to 5,000 seats from all 33 branches in one day. These numbers surely guarantee the satisfaction from most customers. Apart from other tactics, the convenient accesses of locations make it even easier for the customers to visit as often as they want and eventually become the loyal customers.
Unveil the history of Shabu kingdom
The first branch of Shabu Bootueng was located on 33 rd Bridge, Lop Buri city on October 20 th , 2015. It has been operating for 3 years and 3 months until now.
Mr. Game, the owner of Shabu Bootueng, tells us the history of how this No.1 Shabu restaurant was created. Back when he was taking Logistics course abroad, he was always hanging out with a group of friends, about 8-10 of them together. They used to party around their places and one of the must-have activity is to enjoy party foods. So Mr. Game constantly came up with interesting menus, then he eventually found the way to cook Shabu. At the time, he tried sorting out the soup recipe himself and also asked for an advice from his Chinese and Japanese friends until he accidentally got his own individual one. The taste of his soup really impressed his friends that they always came to party at his place, just to have his Shabu. One of them eventually said to him that if he ever opened the Shabu restaurant in Thailand, it would become famous. But Mr. Game himself never had an idea of having his own restaurant, as his family didn’t have any background on catering business. Besides he had never taken any catering or cooking course before. Suddenly out of nowhere, he finally ended up owning his Shabu restaurant in his hometown Lop Buri. The feedback from his first restaurant was beyond expectation. It got so famous, it became the trigger of other branches. Now there’s already 33 branches in total and about to kick off another 3 branches.
Mr. Game is thinking about opening his brand new 15 branches within this year without any franchise involved. Its headquarter will take charge of operation and quality proof of every branch. He also says that he’d rather expand its branches in the province areas, so it will not be a lot of branches in Bangkok.
The very secret recipe of deliciousness
The policy of this restaurant is to deliver premium quality of meat to province areas with affordable prices, starts from only 189 baht and will continue to stick to this level of price. Its signature is certainly the special soup recipe, which is invented by this restaurant, with well-selected local and imported ingredients.
Followed by the key feature of Koh Khun Beef, which was so hard to find in the province areas compared to Bangkok. This restaurant also offers the special type of beef, which is totally different from other restaurants, and this makes the restaurant very popular. Plus, Shabu Bootueng was the very first one in province areas to serve Kurobuta Pork as well. This even made it exciting and gave people a chance to try new things. The intention of selecting premium ingredients tells the customers how much they think about the quality of foods they serve. One of the must-have factors is definitely Ajinomoto products that help enhancing a variety of dipping sauces and make them intensely tasty and different from other restaurants. Also, the quality of Ajinomoto itself is trustworthy due to its international standard. Plus, Mr.Game is very satisfied with the service of Ajinomoto, he says Ajinomoto sales team always delivers fast and good service. They always have the quick solutions for everything. We even deliver Ajinomoto products straight from headquarter to Cambodia branches as we trust in the quality”. The restaurant currently has the total of 5 different choices of dipping sauce, which are Black Sesame, White Sesame, Sukiyaki, Ponzu and Seafood. All of them are absolutely the best.
Ajinomoto Salad Dressing Brand; Goma Shoyu Salad Dressing and Baisen Goma Creamy Salad Dressing are also chosen be this restaurant’s dipping sauces to compliment both the soup and ingredients. These two can also be enjoyed with both Shabu and deep-fried stuffs, they will perfectly endorse the well-blended taste.
The customers of Shabu Bootueng
The main target of this restaurant are high school and university students, followed by the office workers in their 20’s and early 30’s. This restaurant probably doesn’t have the convenient environment for family dining as it might get pretty occupied. This is more likely to be hung out by groups of friends.
Even though there’s a lot of branches operating in the province areas, still there’s a lot of preparation to do to make sure that the locations are close enough to their target customers. Unless, they will try to find locations that could be easily accessed by public transportation. When the target groups are specified, the prices of menus will be decided right after. Shabu set menus are divided into 2 sets, the small set is 189 baht and the large set is 239 baht. Most of customers would
end up ordering the large one as the amount is more valued for the price.
The concept that wins over
According to the purpose of allocating the restaurants around province areas, Mr. Game tried to come up with ideas that would attract people in those areas. So the concept of Chinese action movies can literally reflect the nostalgic feeling of local Thai people. Moreover, the word “Boo Tueng” has the similar pronunciation to “Shabu” and “Boo Tueng” is the name of No.1 martial arts institute from the famous Chinese action movie “The Legend of the Condor Heroes”. This would
imply that Shabu Bootueng is No.1 Shabu restaurant, which has the ability to win over the others. Then the menus, interior design and wooden decorations are also following the concept of Chinese action movies to give a warm welcome to all mighty diners.
The nationwide expansion of this Shabu kingdom
Now, there’s a plan to launch 2 more branches in Thonglor Soi 10 and Arena 10, which surrounded by the community of posh restaurants. But Mr. Game himself is insisting on continuing his business with the affordable prices and will also introduce the brand new menu “Shabu Jao Sam Nak”, the premium quality menu that will surprise everyone. The plan of branch expansion will cover mainly in the middle of Thailand, 3 branches in Bangkok and 20 more branches in the other cities. All of them are 33 branches in total. Now, he also starts to think about locating other branches in Bangkok in Ari and Saphan Khwai, then Thonglor to make it more familiar to Bangkok people.
There’s still 2 more noble branches to introduce, which are the branches in Phnom Penh, Cambodia. According to the success of the first branch, so the second one came up right after.
How to continue the lasting Shabu kingdom
Mr. Game always reminds himself that the well-preparation is always the key and “Do not open the restaurant, just because you like cooking”. He thinks that the management of cost and profit is the most important factor. With the intention to serve rare and premium ingredients to customers, he regularly chooses pricey ingredients but makes sure the total will not go beyond the cost. Mr. Game also points out the unique selling point of this restaurant saying that “In the old days, most Shabu restaurants were serving New Zealand mussels but we chose to serve scallops instead. We might not get a huge amount of profits but this will impress our customers to the max”.
Plus, Mr. Game has obtained the degree of Logistics course, he had adapted his knowledge butilizing headquarter to deliver ingredients to every branch. One of other key factors to success is the firm teamwork, human resources and the management team to take care of everything thoroughly. One thing, which is the disadventage of competitors, is that they try to run their business by expanding their franchises. While Shabu Bootueng is always looked after by its owner and headquarter will have the control over everything. Normally, franchises will take longer to consider and go on with the promotions but the restaurants that are looked after by their owners could instantly go on with the promotion ideas.
It is actually not that easy for this restaurant to become No.1 but it doesn’t mean that it is going to be impossible. Shabu Bootueng takes place during the period that Shabu restaurant is so popular but still manage to become No.1. It is unquestionably because of its steady quality of service, ingredients and management. The continuity of expanding more branches within 3 years could guarantee the very well preparation to create the uniqueness to gain loyal customers, which
leads to its success in the end.
