The story
BreadTalk Group Pte. Ltd. was founded as a bakery brand by George Quek in Singapore and opened its first outlet at Bugis Junction in July 2000. It was listed on the Singapore Exchange in 2003.
In 2003, BreadTalk opened its first outlet in China.
In October 2005, BreadTalk launched its first food court, Food Republic, at Wisma Atria.
In August 2011, BreadTalk started construction of a new building, BreadTalk IHQ Building, at Paya Lebar iPark along Tai Seng Street. BreadTalk IHQ Building was constructed to house BreadTalk international headquarters and cost $64.08 million. The building is 10-storey high and shaped like a Danish pastry designed by architect Tan Kay Ngee.
In June 2013, Phase 1 of BreadTalk's building was completed with the first floor, consisting of Din Tai Fung, RamenPlay, BreadTalk, Toast Box and Food Republic, opened to public. Phase 2 of the building, the second floor, to be opened a month later in July, housing retail outlets.
In December 2018, the Group opened its first Din Tai Fung restaurant in London. BreadTalk also partnered with Bakekneads, a part of the Som Datt Group, as the master franchise for India's national capital region.
On 20 February 2019, BreadTalk Group bought out its Thai joint venture partner's 50% stake, The Minor Food Group, for S$6.96 million.
BreadTalk Group announced on 2 September 2019 that it planned to buy Food Junction, a food court operator, for $80 million. The Competition and Consumer Commission of Singapore allowed the acquisition on 15 October 2019 as the acquisition would not substantially reduce competition, and would also allow BreadTalk to better compete with other food operators.
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In 2020, BreadTalk announced a net loss of $5.2 million for 2019 while it had a net profit of $15.2 million for 2018. It also announced a cash offer to acquire all issued ordinary shares in BreadTalk by BTG Holding which is owned by Quek, his wife Katherine Lee and Thailand-based hospitality company Minor International. On 5 June, the company was delisted from the Singapore Exchange.
BreadTalk also signed a deal with First Street Teochew Fish Soup to open a new stall at BreadTalk HQ and future stalls at its Food Republic food courts.
In 2021, a consortium led by Lian Beng Group made a S$118 million sale-and-leaseback deal with BreadTalk to buy the BreadTalk IHQ Building and leased back to Breadtalk as an anchor tenant for 10 years. Breadtalk has the option to extend its lease for another five years or buy back the building.
It has since expanded to more than 900 retail stores spread across 15 markets. Its brand portfolio consists of BreadTalk, Toast Box, Food Republic, Food Junction, Bread Society, Thye Moh Chan, The Icing Room, Sō Ramen, Butter Bean and Charlie Tea in Singapore. Din Tai Fung, Song Fa Bak Kut Teh and Wu Pao Chun are franchised brands.
The Group has a network of owned bakery outlets in Singapore, PRC, Malaysia, Hong Kong and Thailand as well as franchised bakery outlets across Asia, Europe and the Middle East. It also owns and operates the Din Tai Fung restaurants in Singapore, Thailand and the United Kingdom, as well as the Food Republic food atria in Singapore, China, Taiwan, Hong Kong and Malaysia.
From Wikipedia’s article on BreadTalk, shared under CC BY-SA 4.0.5