Hotel and restaurant operator FDC International Hotels Corp (FDC, 雲品國際) yesterday announced it has acquired Splendor Banquet Restaurant (京采飯店), near New Taipei City’s Dapinglin MRT Station.
FDC said it hopes the acquisition will help boost its revenue this year by 20 percent.
FDC’s revenue is also to benefit from the inclusion of the food and beverage business at Chateau de Chine’s (翰品酒店) Taoyuan outlet, as the hotelier seeks to increase its share of the banquet business.
The company posted revenue of NT$374 million (US$12.38 million) in the first quarter, representing a 4.6 percent year-on-year increase.
“The scale increase would allow FDC to raise its revenue at a faster pace from this quarter,” company chairman Emile Sheng (盛治仁) told a news conference.
FDC was spun off from L’Hotel de Chine Group (LDC, 雲朗觀光), which owns Palais de Chine, Maison de Chine, Chateau de Chine, Chinatrust Hotels (中信旅館) and five more outlets in Italy.
Sheng declined to comment on the cost of the acquisition, saying only that FDC would pay 3 percent of its revenue to its unlisted parent company, LDC, the actual buyer of the Splendor restaurant.
Profit margins for banquet businesses are twice as high as that for other restaurants, explaining why the group is growing its banquet business despite intensive competition, FDC president David Ding (丁原偉) said.
After taking over the food and beverage operation of Chateau de Chine’s Taoyuan outlet, FDC is to rename it the Taoyuan Mingsheng branch of Gala de Chine (頤品大飯店), the banquet arm of FDC.
In three months’ time, the Splendor restaurant is to be renamed the New Taipei Beixin branch of Gala De Chine, allowing the 15-year-old restaurant and customers some time to get used to the change.
Under the arrangement, Gala De Chine, previously the sole banquet outlet in New Taipei City’s Sinjhuang District (新莊), has grown into a restaurant chain that also includes seafood buffet restaurant Giardino (品花苑).
The banquet business is less vulnerable to economic cycle volatility and fluctuations in the number of foreign travelers, Ding said.
Banquet operators need only to increase temporary staff during the high season and cut headcount in the low season, Ding said, adding that FDC has rehired almost all the employees Splendor laid off on April 30.
Sheng attributed Splendor’s sale to family disputes and said he welcomed peers in similar situations to join FDC or LDC.
LDC plans to launch a new outlet in Italy and has inked a contract with a Taiwanese partner to open a new property under Maison de Chine, Sheng said, refusing to elaborate.
TAKING STOCK: A Taiwanese cookware firm in Vietnam urged customers to assess inventory or place orders early so shipments can reach the US while tariffs are paused Taiwanese businesses in Vietnam are exploring alternatives after the White House imposed a 46 percent import duty on Vietnamese goods, following US President Donald Trump’s announcement of “reciprocal” tariffs on the US’ trading partners. Lo Shih-liang (羅世良), chairman of Brico Industry Co (裕茂工業), a Taiwanese company that manufactures cast iron cookware and stove components in Vietnam, said that more than 40 percent of his business was tied to the US market, describing the constant US policy shifts as an emotional roller coaster. “I work during the day and stay up all night watching the news. I’ve been following US news until 3am
UNCERTAINTY: Innolux activated a stringent supply chain management mechanism, as it did during the COVID-19 pandemic, to ensure optimal inventory levels for customers Flat-panel display makers AUO Corp (友達) and Innolux Corp (群創) yesterday said that about 12 to 20 percent of their display business is at risk of potential US tariffs and that they would relocate production or shipment destinations to mitigate the levies’ effects. US tariffs would have a direct impact of US$200 million on AUO’s revenue, company chairman Paul Peng (彭雙浪) told reporters on the sidelines of the Touch Taiwan trade show in Taipei yesterday. That would make up about 12 percent of the company’s overall revenue. To cope with the tariff uncertainty, AUO plans to allocate its production to manufacturing facilities in
COLLABORATION: Given Taiwan’s key position in global supply chains, the US firm is discussing strategies with local partners and clients to deal with global uncertainties Advanced Micro Devices Inc (AMD) yesterday said it is meeting with local ecosystem partners, including Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電), to discuss strategies, including long-term manufacturing, to navigate uncertainties such as US tariffs, as Taiwan occupies an important position in global supply chains. AMD chief executive officer Lisa Su (蘇姿丰) told reporters that Taiwan is an important part of the chip designer’s ecosystem and she is discussing with partners and customers in Taiwan to forge strong collaborations on different areas during this critical period. AMD has just become the first artificial-intelligence (AI) server chip customer of TSMC to utilize its advanced
Six years ago, LVMH’s billionaire CEO Bernard Arnault and US President Donald Trump cut the blue ribbon on a factory in rural Texas that would make designer handbags for Louis Vuitton, one of the world’s best-known luxury brands. However, since the high-profile opening, the factory has faced a host of problems limiting production, 11 former Louis Vuitton employees said. The site has consistently ranked among the worst-performing for Louis Vuitton globally, “significantly” underperforming other facilities, said three former Louis Vuitton workers and a senior industry source, who cited internal rankings shared with staff. The plant’s problems — which have not
RSS