Little Sheep engages in the franchise business in overseas market

In the 2010 Franchisee Annual Meeting held yesterday, Inner Mongolia Little Sheep Catering Chain Co,Ltd. announced that beginning from this year it will fully engage in franchise business in international markets. And the company will not open franchise stores in the 1^st and 2^nd tier cities such as Beijing, Shanghai, Shenzhen and other cities in China.

Little Sheep Chief Brand Officer Zhang Zhanhai said that at present the company owned 19 franchise stores in the United States, Japan, Canada, Dubai, etc. During the financial crisis, the performance of these overseas stores was not affected. In contrast, the company gained significant sales growth in oversea markets. Many retailers want to become its franchisees due to the company s good performance. Based on this, the company decided to fully open franchise business in international markets beginning from this year.

Zhang also disclosed that the company will no longer open franchise stores in the 1^st and 2^nd tier cities in domestic markets in the future. Instead, the company will focus on the direct selling business in these cities. And Little Sheep will selectively open franchise stores in the 3^rd tier cities in China. "At present, Little Sheep has a total of 445 stores, of which 166 are direct selling stores and 279 are franchise stores. Within this year the company will open another 45 direct selling stores. Thus, the total number of the company will certainly be over 500. At the same time, 20 direct selling stores and 50 franchise stores will be upgraded, including operational management, product quality, and brand image, " Zhang said.