MK Restaurant, Shabushi and Coca Suki were the leading brands for suki or shabu buffet lovers in previous years.
But with the popularity of J-pop and Japanese cuisine, Thai consumers have endeavoured to have a deeper understanding of Japanese culture, prompting many Japanese-style suki and shabu restaurants to emerge, including Mo-Mo-Paradise.
Mo-Mo-Paradise opened its first branch at CentralWorld in 2007.
The eatery has 24 branches -- 23 in Bangkok and one in Chon Buri. Another is scheduled to open next month at Lotus North Ratchapruek, with 4-5 more slated for introduction next year.
"With our family producing sticky rice snacks for Japanese companies for two decades, we are familiar with Japanese cuisine and found Mo-Mo-Paradise by accident there. It is very premium shabu," said Surawech Telan, managing director of Noble Restaurant Co, the operator of the local Mo-Mo-Paradise chain.
"The first time I ate Japanese food at Mo-Mo-Paradise, it caused me to want to bring this brand to Thailand, even though a lot of fancy shabu suki brands already operate here."
Thanks to the family's connection with Japanese importers, Mr Surawech sealed a deal with Mo-Mo-Paradise for a 10-year agreement in only three months.
He said Thailand was the first location for the chain outside of Japan.
The company worked hard in the first year of operation, then opened a second branch two years later, said Mr Surawech.
"At first we only expected to operate 2-3 branches of Mo-Mo-Paradise here because Thais had yet to truly understand the way to eat real Japanese shabu suki," he said.
Mr Surawech attributed the brand's local popularity to quality raw materials, service and ambience.
The majority of customers are younger people, he said.
Noble Restaurant also introduced Nabezo, a premium suki brand, at Central Embassy in 2013. There are now three Nabezo branches in Bangkok.
In 2019, the company also secured a 10-year licence to open the first Guljak Topokki & Chicken, a Korean chicken store, in Thailand. The first branch opened at Iconsiam.
There are four Guljak Topokki & Chicken stores in Bangkok including at Siam Center, Central Chidlom and Esplanade Ratchada. Each has a space of 80-100 square metres.
Noble Restaurant plans to open a new Guljak Topokki & Chicken eatery at Lotus North Ratchapruek next week.
In order to strengthen the food business, the company launched its first Gyukatsu Kyoto Katsugyu, a premium Japanese-style beef katsu, on the second floor of Siam Center in July this year.
There are 17 Gyukatsu Kyoto Katsugyu branches outside Japan, including in South Korea, Hong Kong, Taiwan and Canada.
According to Mr Surawech, Noble Restaurant is also seeking new Western or South American food brands over the next 2-3 years.
"We are quite conservative in opening new restaurants. We want to do the best for each restaurant we open, rather than focusing on the number of branches. We aim to make each of our food brands the first one customers think of in each food category in which we operate," he said.
The company reported sales of 800 million baht last year and expects the figure to increase to 1.5 billion this year, then grow to 2 billion in three years, said Mr Surawech.
