After You: Thailand's Listed Dessert Chain With More Than 180 Stores

This is an English adaptation of a FoodBud historical article originally published on December 23, 2023.

FoodBud previously noted that Thailand's dessert chain After You was publicly listed, but had not yet compiled the business profile.

After You was co-founded in Thailand in 2007 by Gulapat Kanokwatanawan (May) and Mr Maetup T Suwan (Ming). Signature products include original honey toast, chocolate lava cake, fig pudding cake, shaved-ice desserts, mango sticky rice toast, and other durian desserts. The brand listed in Thailand at the end of 2016.

At the time of the article, After You had a market capitalization of THB 7.46 billion, equivalent to RMB 1.54 billion.

Brand Portfolio and Store Base

After You operated three main brands:

• After You: primarily company-operated dessert cafes.
• Mikka Coffee: primarily franchised coffee shops.
• Luggaw: a newer fruit-themed concept launched in Q2 2022. One store opened in July and another in October, with plans to open two more Luggaw stores in 2023.

As of the end of September, After You had 60 stores, mainly concentrated in Bangkok, Thailand. Mikka Coffee had 114 stores.

After You is positioned in the mid-to-premium segment. Dessert prices ranged from THB 85 to THB 285, about RMB 17.5 to RMB 58.8. Beverage prices ranged from THB 110 to THB 155, about RMB 22.7 to RMB 32. Luggaw and Mikka Coffee were positioned in the mid-market.

Financial Performance

According to After You's latest third-quarter financial report at the time, Q3 revenue was THB 340 million, about RMB 70.38 million, up 38% year on year. Net profit was THB 53.77 million, about RMB 11.10 million.

For the first three quarters of the year, revenue was THB 910 million, about RMB 190 million, up 33% year on year. Net profit was THB 130 million, about RMB 27.04 million.

After You divided revenue into four segments:

• Dessert cafe and beverages shops: product sales from company-operated stores.
• Sales of goods and raw materials: raw materials and OEM sales to franchisees and other customers. Beyond its own brands, Starbucks and AirAsia were also major customers.
• Catering and events: revenue from formats similar to group catering or pop-up stores.
• Franchising: franchise fees.

In Q3 2022, Dessert cafe and beverages shops accounted for 88.8% of revenue, Sales of goods and raw materials for 6.5%, and Catering and events for 3.2%.

The 2023 financial report did not disclose dine-in versus delivery data. As a reference point, in 2022 dine-in accounted for 63% and delivery accounted for 37%.

Growth Strategy and Store Model

In its 2022 annual report, After You described four core strategy areas: product innovation, store expansion, overseas expansion beyond Thailand, and franchising.

On product innovation, the company leaned toward developing new dine-in products and also used co-branded marketing collaborations, a tactic common among many brands in China.

After You's site selection focused on high-traffic locations such as shopping malls and metro stations. Its stores tended to use mid-sized spaces of 75-120 square meters, with an average of 15-30 seats.

Luggaw stores were about 2-35 square meters. Mikka Coffee stores were generally 5-10 square meters.

Staffing varied by store size:

• After You: about 5-25 staff per store.
• Luggaw: about 6-8 staff per store.
• Mikka Coffee: about 3-5 staff per store.

Per-store investment also varied by format:

• After You: about THB 1.5 million to THB 6 million, or about RMB 310,000 to RMB 1.24 million.
• Luggaw: about THB 1.5 million, or about RMB 310,000.
• Mikka Coffee: about THB 300,000 to THB 1 million, or about RMB 60,000 to RMB 206,000.

After You's payback period was about 2 to 2.5 years. Mikka Coffee's payback period was about 1 to 1.5 years. The actual payback depended mainly on store location, store size, foot traffic, and related factors.

Note: IPO, market-capitalization, financial, payback, and forward-opening figures are historical, reflecting the article's original December 23, 2023 context.