7 things that will surprise you about Hot Star
Its backers allready own other qsr concepts in Oz.
It's only a small footprint now but well known in its native Taiwan. We talk to Kyle Lam, owner of Hot Star Australia to find out the plans for the brand:
QSR Media: Tell us a bit about the Australian Management of Hot Star
Kyle: Lili Shi is the brains behind the operation. A serial entrepreneur from a young age, Hot Star is the third international franchise she has brought to Australia, along with Mother's Crepe (www.mazazucrepe.com.au) and Gong Cha Tea (www.gongchatea.com.au).
Kyle, Wing and Vivian come from a family of experienced hospitality operators in Melbourne, who chanced upon meeting Lili through mutual acquaintances. They came to build a strong working relationship with Lili through their Gong Cha Tea operations, and have partnered together to bring Hot Star Large Fried Chicken to Australia.
Lili was able to negotiate the rights to the master franchise in Australia for the group, something that was hotly contested by several parties. As the master franchisor, they have been determined to prove the concept works in the Australian market, and have set a target of at least five company owned stores to be opened within 12 months before taking on Franchisees. There are currently two stores in operation in Melbourne, the Sydney store opens in March, and another Melbourne store to open by June. Having the company stores will also enable us to train franchisees, and further develop our operation systems.
With Lili's knowledge and experience in Franchising, the groundwork for franchising Hot Star had been set early on, with all applicable training manuals and operating systems in place.
QSR Media: Can you give us an idea of how big this is in Taiwan?
Kyle: Hot Star's humble origins began with it's first store in 1992, and since then has become a permanent fixture and attraction in the world famous Shih Lin night market in the capital Taipei. Foodies the world over have flocked to Shih Lin store, with lines 50 deep all day every day, with waiting times in line of up to an hour! The Shih Lin store sells upwards of 3000 pieces of Hot Star Large fried chicken a day, so there's definitely a big following!
Off that back of that success, Hot star have opened another two stores in the very same market, and have expanded to over 50 stores across the world, in Taiwan, Indonesia, Singapore, Malaysia, Korea, Hong Kong, China and now Australia. Australia is now the testing ground to adapt the brand to a more western market, and once the formula has been established in the market, Hot Star has big and aggressive plans to enter the lucrative North American market.
QSR Media: What sets your chicken apart from other fried chicken brands?
Kyle: I would say three things, quality of produce, size of our fried chicken, and quality in taste.
Hot Star Chicken uses fresh chicken only, never frozen, delivered daily to our stores. We use a single piece of chicken breast, masterfully cut into a chicken steak which is 30 cm in length, making it the biggest piece of fried chicken in the world! We do not use preservatives or artificial flavourings in our Chicken. All our products are cooked fresh and fried to order, so to give our customers the oversized fried chicken that is crispy on the outside and oh-so-moist on the inside thanks to the secret herbs we use in our marinate, and our cooking process.
QSR Media: Why did you chose the 96 Liverpool Street location?
Kyle: 96 Liverpool Street is right in the heart of CBD, a cosmopolitan intersection is a busy thoroughfare with tourists, office workers, students during the day and party goers late at night. With flexible trading hours, this location enables us to serve Hot Star's famous Large Fried Chicken to everyone at all hours! No matter when their cravings hit! Be it a quick lunch or an afternoon snack, or a midnight crave, Hot Star is always there ready to fry!
QSR Media: What else is on the menu other than chicken? How much chicken do you go through a week / month / year?
Kyle: We also serve deep fried King Oyster mushrooms, sweet potato Fries and Chicken Bites, which has the same great taste as our original large chicken, Without bones and in bite size pieces. We like to have unique offerings that can not be found at other stores. Although we are relatively new, I can confirm we go through a LOT of chicken!
QSR Media: It seems that there are a lot of Taiwanese food success stories- what do you put this down to?
Kyle: The Australian food scene is getting more adventurous, and with the of prevalence of food bloggers and social media, everyone is looking for the latest and greatest food item to instagram and blog about. This has meant that diners are now more well informed about the origin and authenticity of their food than ever before. Taiwanese cuisine has been a beneficiary of this evolving foodie landscape. Where it had been previously lumped in with 'Chinese' cuisine, diners are now able to distinguish the nuanced differences between the two. Taiwanese street food has never been afraid to experiment with new ideas, so it has an enormous cultural and gastronomical impact in the rest of Asia, and now, more and more so in Australia. Taiwanese food culture has brought a breath of fresh air into the Australian food landscape, and diners are embracing the unique offerings, such as Hot Star's XL fried chicken.
QSR Media: Do you have expansion plans beyond Sydney?
Kyle: We have another store in Melbourne that will open by June (our 4th company store since November 2013), and are in negotiations to another two sites in Sydney, and a further one in Melbourne. We have had unbelievable interest from franchisees for Sydney and Melbourne, but to our surprise there have been strong level of interest for Gold Coast, Brisbane and Adelaide. Once we have opened at least the planned five company stores, we believe we would have proven our concept, and then plan to aggressively push expansion in all major capital cities.
