Singapore’s largest Italian restaurant chain, PastaMania is ramping up its Chian store rollout.
The chain is set to open inside Shanghai’s Raffles City Mall in downtown Huangpu District, Renming Guangchang, on February 1.
Operated by Singapore-based Commonwealth Capital Group, this is the latest store within a 13-month period to expand the PastaMania footprints in Shanghai. The current flagship stores are located at strategic locations in Metro-city Mall, Xujiahui and Super Brand Mall, Lujiazui District, Shanghai.
“After entering the market last December, we have been focusing on localising our business operations to suit the Chinese market. In this regard, our food items like the pasta range of chunky minced Beef Bolognese, Crispy Bacon Creamy Pasta, soup-based Seafood Zuppa, have all been winners,” said Wilson Lim, executive director, international business.
Lim said the dessert offerings of Wafflelicious and the Banana or Mango Pizza Crostata were also popular among female customers.
PastaMania Raffles City restaurant will also be debuting Italian gelato and related desserts to cater to female tastes.
PastaMania has built a strong following amongst children from the local and foreign communities through ‘Doughworkz Program’. The children, accompanied by their parents, are able to enjoy hands-on experience in preparing Italian cuisines such as Pasta, Pizza and Ravioli in a fun and engaging manner. The lessons also incorporate development of motor skills, good table manners and eating habits and reinforcing community and family values such as filial piety (eg. serving their “own-made pasta or pizza” to their parents).
“We are happy that our various initiatives implemented to grow the PastaMania F&B concept in Shanghai have yielded strong results. It has given us confidence and momentum to set up more stores across cities in the China market,” said Lim.
PastaMania is now seeking locations in Jingan, Changning, Wujiao Chang and other cities. With the PastaMania concept proven and taking shape in Shanghai, the PastaMania franchise program will kick-start in 2015 to expand across China, he said.
