KUALA LUMPUR (BLOOMBERG) - Berjaya Food, which operates Starbucks and chicken-based restaurant chain Kenny Rogers Roasters outlets across Malaysia, is looking to curb costs internally rather than pass on rising production costs to consumers.

"For us, the last thing we want to do is increase prices. Consumers feel it if you pass the cost" to them, group chief executive officer Sydney Quays said in Kuala Lumpur on Monday (June 20). "We may have to sacrifice margin for now and that is what we are prepared to do."

High commodity prices, stoked in part by the war in Ukraine as well as supply chain snarls that have complicated transport and logistics, have forced food and beverage companies globally to raise their product prices. However, there are signs they may soon run into resistance from inflation-weary consumers.

"There will be some impact due to what is happening in the global environment, we won't deny that," Mr Quays said. "But there are some things we can control, like costs. We have been managing that very well."

Malaysia, a net food importer, is struggling to keep price pressures in check with its currency tumbling to a two-year low versus the US dollar last month. The country halted chicken exports at the start of the month to curtail rising local prices and extended a price cap on poultry and eggs until June 30.

The nation's food supply is still adequate and its chicken supply has gradually recovered during the first two weeks of June, the Ministry of Agriculture and Food Industries said last week.

"If you go to Kenny Rogers today, you will get chicken. That I am pretty certain," Mr Quays added. "It has not affected us in a way that has disrupted our business to a big extent."