Xinban Opens Xujie's 8th Store in Taichung Far Eastern Plaza Unaffected by Cancer Oil Incident

Xinban (7883-TW), a chain restaurant operator, was found to have used some oils that did not meet food safety standards. Xinban stated that all stores across Taiwan have stopped using the controversial items, and the salad oil items have been confirmed to be safe. Today (8th), it was also announced as scheduled that the 8th store of its Japanese buffet Xujie will open at Taichung Far Eastern Plaza tomorrow. This is not only the brand's first entry into central Taiwan but is also expected to become the second highest revenue store under the group, with a single store annual revenue of up to 550 million NT dollars.

Xinban's new store is located inside Taichung Far Eastern Plaza, with an operating area of 469 ping and 367 seats planned. Based on the scale of the store and the conditions of the mall's crowd, the single store annual revenue is expected to reach 550 million NT dollars, which is expected to become the group's "store after", second only to "Xin A Joy" located in Taipei 101, with an annual revenue of over 850 million NT dollars.

Xinban explained that this new store has not yet opened, but the reservation inquiry rate has been continuously rising. The three meal periods of lunch, dinner, and afternoon tea have quickly become fully booked. Conservatively estimated, from the opening on July 9th to August 7th, the first month of 30 days, the number of reservations exceeds 24,300.

Xinban has been deeply involved in the domestic self-service restaurant market for many years, with multiple brands under its umbrella, including "Xin A Joy", "Xin Xin", "Xujie", "Xin Food Paradise", and "Guo Ran Hui". These brands span different price ranges and consumption scenarios, including top-tier scenic buffets, premium Japanese buffets, popular buffets, and vegetarian buffets. This multi-brand strategy fully caters to the needs of family gatherings, business banquets, celebrations, friends' gatherings, and high-end experiences.

Xinban stated that it is optimistic about the sales volume of the catering industry in Taichung City, which is the second largest among the six major cities, accounting for about 13.6% of the entire Taiwan. It is only second to Taipei City. Moreover, about half of the consuming population in Taichung comes from other counties. If the registered population of nearby counties such as Changhua, Nantou, and Miaoli is added, the broad consumption area is roughly estimated to be 5.06 million people.

Xinban currently has a total of 12 stores in Taichung, with a combined annual revenue challenging 1 billion NT dollars. This also shows that the competition in department store catering has evolved from single-store expansion to multi-brand cluster operation.

Regarding the incident where the Kaohsiung City Government announced that some batches of health-flavored oil supplied by Gaoshengtai Company did not meet food safety regulations, Xinban explained that the oil supplied by the company has been fully completed in terms of product suspension, removal, and sealing operations. The salad oil items have been confirmed to be safe. In addition to fully cooperating with the follow-up investigation by the competent authorities, it has also launched a supply chain upgrade project to comprehensively deepen the management and traceability mechanism of raw materials.