Fairwood (restaurant)

Infobox_Company
company_name = Fairwood Holdings, Ltd.
company_
slogan = “It’s Time Fairwood"
company_type = Publicly Traded sehk|0052
foundation = Tsuen Wan, Hong Kong (1972)
location =
key_people = Dennis Lo, Chairman and CEO
num_employees = 4,250 (March 2007)
industry = Foodservice
products = Fast food
revenue = HKD 1.204 billion (2007)
homepage = [http://www.fairwood.com.hk/ http://www.fairwood.com.hk/]

Fairwood (zh-c|c=大快活, sehk|0052) is a fast food chain offering Chinese and Western food at affordable prices. Founded in December 1972cite web|url=http://www.fairwood.com.hk/jspwww/main.jsp|title=Company Profile|accessdate=2007-07-10|author=Fairwood Holdings Limited] in the Tsuen Wan district of Hong Kong, its current headquarters are located in North Point. Since that time, the company has grown to 88 restaurants all over Hong Kong and 11 locations in Mainland China including major cities such as Shenzhen, Guangzhou and Beijing. cite web|url=http://www.fairwood.com.hk/jspwww/investors/announce/arannounce_2006_2007.pdf|title=Annual Report 2006-2007|accessdate=2007-09-13|author=Fairwood Holdings Limited|name=ref-2] Behind Café de Coral, Fairwood is the second largest fast food chain in Hong Kong and serves over 100,000 customers each day.

Fairwood operates three main businesses including its core fast food business, an institutional catering business primarily designed for school lunches, and a third business that operates specialty restaurants including Buddy Cafe, Cafe Porto and Cafe Oasis.

History

Fairwood opened its first restaurant in December 1972 in Chung On Street, Tsuen Wan. It opened its second restaurant in 1977 in Fuk Wing Street, Sham Shui Po. By September 1991 when Fairwood made its initial public offering, it had expanded to 52 locations and operated its own facility for processing food in an effort to lower costs and maintain consistency.

Food

Menu

Fairwood serves a blend of Chinese, Japanese and Western cuisine. The menu changes throughout the day and is split into 4 meal times: Breakfast, Lunch, Afternoon Tea and Dinner. In addition, some items may sell out and be replaced by others. The entire menu is evaluated and rotated on a weekly basis. In all, Fairwood cycles around over 200 dishes.

Dishes

Dishes themselves include staples such as Siu Mei, baked pork chop with rice, curry beef brisket and twists on Western dishes such as fried eggs with luncheon meat, spaghetti bolognaise and baked macaroni with ham. Soups such as Russian borscht are also served. On occasion, more seasonal dishes will be served. For example, hot pot and clay pot dishes are served in the winter, when they are typically consumed.

:"Sample Dishes:"

Pricing

Pricing of food is inexpensive and in line with what one would pay at comparable fast food restaurants such as Cafe de Coral. A typical dish costs between $25-$40 HKD.

Service and Preparation

As is customary in most HK-style fast food restaurants and fast casual restaurants, customers view the menu on the wall and order at the counter. Customers can pay using traditional methods or Octopus Card. Most dishes are prepared to order, and the customer will pick them up when they are ready. Seating is first-come first-serve.

Rebranding

Fairwood originally adopted a green color scheme in its first stores and used a happy clown on its logo. Its name literally means "big happiness."

New Logo

The SARS outbreak in 2003 had a negative impact on the fast food industry in Hong Kong and as a result, Fairwood conducted research and subsequently rebranded itself. It contracted graphics designer Alan Chan to design its new logo, that of a "jumping man" which is made to resemble the Chinese character for "big." Overnight, Fairwood changed all the signs on its stores.

New Store Concept

The next day, it launched its new flagship store in Causeway Bay. The new store concept, designed by Steve Leung and Yasumichi Morita featured shades of orange, vinyl material, and an overall vibrant look that was intended to increase the restaurant's appeal. cite web|url=http://www.dfaaward.com/download/DFAA_Brochure_Part3.pdf|title=DFAA Awards|accessdate=2007-09-14|author=DFAA]

Other Changes

In addition to a visual redesign, Fairwood reformulated and improved its signature dishes and released them under the "Ah Wood" brand. These dishes included such favorites as curry beef brisket and baked pork chop over rice. Fairwood also banned smoking in all of its restaurants, a first for any fast food chain in Hong Kong at the time. It wouldn't be until January 1, 2007 for Hong Kong to institute a public smoking ban.

However, ever since Fairwood was 'rebranded', some people have complained of unpleasant odours coming out the entrances.Fact|date=June 2008

Expansion

On March 2007, Fairwood announced its plans to increase its restaurant count to 100 in Hong Kong and to 30 in Mainland China by 2010. This expansion will be accompanied by a marketing campaign featuring celebrities in order to attract a more youthful crowd. In addition, Fairwood will expand its menu in its Mainland outlets to better cater to local tastes.

In 2008, Fairwood opened its first Beijing franchise restaurant at Joy City（西单悦城）located in Xidan.

See also

* Cuisine of Hong Kong
* Café de Coral
* Maxim's MX

References

External links

* [http://www.fairwood.com.hk/jspwww/ Official website]
* [http://www.foodeasy.com/en/rest_result.php?freetxt=Fairwood&id_district=0&id_cuisine=0&id_region=0&amount=0&id_feature=0&x=29&y=4 Restaurant locations (Hong Kong)]
* [http://www.wokme.com/travel/hongkong/dining_out.htm Dining Out]