AirAsia has opened
its first quick-service restaurant and cafe, based on the airlines inflight
Santan menu and T&Co coffee, in a mega-mall in Mid Valley, a central
shopping haven in Kuala Lumpur on 2nd December 2019.
Tony Fernandes, the
group CEO of ASEANs largest low-cost carrier first floated the idea in
February that AirAsias food was so "fantastic" that he would start a fast food
restaurant serving it.
By the end of 2020,
the airline group aims to own five Santan restaurants and, within the next
three to five years, have 100 franchisee-operated restaurants and cafes in
global markets, according to general manager of Santan Restaurant and T&Co
Cafe, Catherine Goh. AirAsia is hoping to open in locations where lots of U.S.
fast food chains, like McDonalds, draw crowds of hungry Asians currently.
Santan means
"coconut" in Malay and is a popular ingredient in the cuisines of Southeast
Asia. T&Co is a company in which AirAsia has an 80 percent stake; it
supplies inflight coffee and tea solutions to AirAsia, which also runs a
"Barista in the Skies" service offering premium handcrafted coffee such as espresso,
long black, cappuccino, and café latte on board select flights.
The restaurant that
has just opened offers for Southeast Asian all-time popular dishes that can
hardly be considered junk food unlike most American fast food.
AirAsia claims it
has Santan junkies for dishes such as Pak Nassers Nasi Lemak (coconut rice
with chilli paste) and Uncle Chins Chicken Rice. The menu is extensive and
representative of ASEAN dishes, with favourites such as Pineapple Fish Noodle
from Cambodia and Chicken Inasal with Garlic Rice from the Philippines.
Moreover, prices are
affordable, from less than $3 (12 Malaysian Ringgit) for a dish.
Additionally, in
line with the airlines digital drive, the restaurant and cafe feature a smart
menu equipped with artificial intelligence and machine learning, which
recommends popular dishes based on time, past ordering patterns and demographic
taste. Customers can also order directly from a dedicated Santan website and
T&Co mobile app.
Fernandes, in a
LinkedIn post, paid tribute to Goh, who started as his executive assistant and
turned his vision of turning inflight food into a restaurant "and later a Dean
& Deluca selling goods."
"I paid a visit to
see the products and met all the staff [at the restaurant]. Friendly bunch.
Just like the airline. Low cost doesnt mean low quality. Food is high quality
but very affordable. 15RM ($3.60) for a meal and drink. It doesnt cost
anything to be nice or to smile. I want people to see us as different. Not like
the fast food joints out there," he wrote.
"ASEAN first
competitor to the American fast food chains. Way behind but hey people laughed
at us when we only had two planes. Hey whatever, its a worldwide first. First
airline to open a quick service restaurant based on airline food," he added.
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