Wai Wai sets out to conquer Mama

Thai President Foods, the manufacturer of Mama noodles, recently announced the opening of a Mama Station restaurant on Bangkok’s RCA nightlife strip on December 11, after research showed that instant noodles are a huge hit with drinkers.

Mama Station is the brand’s third foray into the restaurant business, following Zaab Museum at Terminal 21 Asoke and Craze Mama by Zaab Museum at Icon Siam.

Wai Wai, however, has a different strategy, as it is aiming at the upcountry market instead of flocking to city locations.

“We started our flagship Quick Terrace, Thailand’s first noodle café, in 2015, in front of our headquarters in Nakhon Pathom province,” Veera Napapruekchat, managing director of Thai Preserved Food Factory, told the Nation.

There are currently five Quick Terrace branches, with the latest one located in a PTT service station on Ang Sila Road in Chonburi province.

The company’s well-known brand “quick zabb”, derived from the original brand of Wai Wai (quick) and the Thai word “zabb” (spicy), gave birth to the name of its signature restaurant, Veera said.

“We partnered with PTT, which has an extensive network of branches in upcountry areas, to offer affordable noodle dishes to local people and travellers,” he said, adding that this decentralised strategy has helped maximise product exposure to wider groups of consumers.

Under the 3rd generation leadership of the family-owned business, Thai Preserved Food Factory is now manufacturing and exporting noodles and other preserved food products to domestic and overseas markets, without licensing to local manufacturers to ensure the quality.

According to the World Instant Noodles Association, the global demand for instant noodles in 2022 stood at 121 billion packs, increasing for seven consecutive years and the highest ever. In Thailand, 3.87 billion packs of instant noodles were consumed last year, ranking 9th in the world.

“With the growing demand for noodles, we feel that focusing on rural areas is the right move due to a wider population distribution rate, as can be seen from the average 20% sales increase year on year across all branches of Quick Terrace,” said Veera.

Moving forward, the company plans to open three more branches soon, one in Chonburi and two in Samut Sakhon, all based in PTT service stations.

“We focus on provinces near Bangkok where travellers can make day trips, while the menu at Quick Terrace will be unique and not just ordinary instant noodle flavorus,” he said.

Among the popular dishes are Vietnamese noodles with roasted pork, purple noodles with shrimps and seafood sauce, Pad Thai with shrimps, and stir-fried Wai Wai with seafood.

In the long term, the company eyes opening more Quick Terrace branches in tourist provinces such as Chiang Mai and Nakhon Sawan, as well as in giant discount stores in every province, Veera said.