HOMEGROWN company BreadTalk is all set for expansion, with plans to double the number of outlets it has from the current 250 to as many as 1,000 within four short years.

'We are moving from being a Singapore brand towards a more mature, global brand,' said group chairman George Quek, who is setting his sights on Middle East and China.

Just last month, BreadTalk awarded franchising rights for it in the Middle East to Pan Arabian Gourmet, a subsidiary of Bahrain-based company AMJ Projects.

The latter company helps to conceptualise business ventures, and has operations in the retail, aviation, real estate, and information technology sectors.

Mr Quek added that if one wants to operate in the global arena, one needs to be familiar with the local customs.

This is the key reason why BreadTalk is allowing master franchise Pan Arabian Gourmet to sub-franchise its outlets - something which it has not done anywhere else.

BreadTalk is going to leverage on Pan Arabian Gourmet's extensive business networks in the region to sub-franchise BreadTalk outlets in 12 Middle Eastern countries, including Egypt, Syria, Lebanon and Iraq.

The expansion into the Middle East, as well as the growth of BreadTalk and Toast Box outlets in parts of South-east Asia, will bring the total number of non-Chinese outlets to 450 by 2012.

Mr Quek said: 'We see some of them as war-torn countries. But they (Middle Eastern businessmen) live in such an environment, they know when to enter the market, how to do business there.'

He said that they chose Bahrain as their master franchise because of its business-friendly environment.

Another key expansion target will be China. Currently, BreadTalk has about a hundred BreadTalk and Toast Box outlets there. It wants to increase this number to 550 by 2012.

Read the full report in Tuesday's edition of The Straits Times.