Investors / Newsroom
News

Imperium Restaurant To Focus On Banquets And Events

BackJun 02, 2003

The Management of Tung Lok Restaurants (2000) Ltd (the "Company") wishes to announce that it is changing the concept of the largest restaurant in its Group, Imperium Chinese Dining ("Imperium"), into a banquet-only restaurant. Imperium is a 50-50 joint-venture between the Company and Nova Leisure Pte Ltd and officially opened on 12 July 2002.

From 1 June 2003, the 650-seat restaurant in Ngee Ann City along Orchard Road will no longer serve walk-in customers and instead offer only events and banquets such as wedding receptions.

The Company said the decision was made for two reasons - as a response to reduced walk-in customer traffic caused by the SARS episode and to sharpen the focus of the banquet business of Imperium.

"By offering only banquets and functions booked in advance without having to cater to walk-in customers at this time, Imperium is expected to reduce its monthly operating expenses by an estimated 25-30%," Tung Lok's Managing Director Andrew Tjioe said.

"We have received some calls asking if Imperium is being closed down. This is totally untrue. In fact, the banquet business is doing well although we have to re-align our resources and sharpen our focus because of the impact of SARS," he said.

The Company said that for financial year ending 31 December 2003, Imperium has, as at 28 May, recorded 156 confirmed banquet bookings valued at more than $3.2 million. Ninety per cent of all the weekend nights for 2003 have already been booked for functions. Since its official opening in July 2002, Imperium has confirmed and sold a total of 233 banquet events.

"Most bookings from now for the rest of 2003 will be for luncheon functions as dinner slots have been taken up. During the current economic climate, we are seeing a new trend among couples who are opting for the luncheon wedding banquet due to cost reasons. Imperium has already recorded a number of such luncheon functions and we expect that these will increase," Mr Tjioe said.