KUALA LUMPUR: Homegrown coffee chain Bask Bear coffee will be rolling out three more "cafe-in-a-bank" outlets in AmBank Group branches next month, making it a total of 108 stores in operation.
Bask Bear parent Loob Holding Sdn Bhd chief executive and founder Bryan Loo said it is planning to have 130 Bask Bear stores by the end of the year.
"The three locations will be Banting (Selangor), Batu Pahat (Johor), Air Keroh (Melaka). Besides this, we have 10 stores in the pipeline that will be launched by the end of this year," he told Business Times.
He said Loob, via Bask Bear, has partnered with Ambank to slowly ramp-up these stores to 50 branches in other locations, enabling customers to conduct their banking transactions while having the option to have a cup of coffee between queues.
Earlier this year, Bask Bear Coffee partnered with AmBank Group to launch its "cafe-in-a-bank" concept in the Klang Valley and Kedah.
The concept has received good responses from the business community and the café crowd in these areas.
The coffee chain, which opened its first store in October 2019, was introduced just before the pandemic.
"We had to quickly transform ourselves into a virtual brand, and it became the most delivered virtual coffee during the lockdown," he said after celebrating its 100th store carnival at Suria KLCC.
Loo said it has an annual target to open 100 stores and has reached more than the target.
Bask Bear aims to be in the top three coffee players in the country in the next three to four years.
Loob Holdings is also looking into different ways to expand these types of concepts beyond the banking space.
His other plans for Bask Bear coffee is to include a drive-through service. Its first drive-through was in partnership with Shell in Johor.
"Our second drive-through coffee is in partnership with Pos Malaysia which will be launched in Melaka next week. By the end of the year, we are looking to have seven drive-throughs in Penang, Kedah and East Malaysia.
Loo founded Loob Holding in 2010. Since then, it has evolved to become the largest F&B firm in Malaysia and Southeast Asia in terms of outlet count.