Singapore F&B company Jus Delish Group has taken a 60 per cent stake in Thai restaurant Porn’s Sexy Thai Food, founded in 2010 by television host Pornsak Prajakwit.

The group now plans to open 10 Porn’s Thai restaurant outlets within the next five years, and the first overseas outlet should open in Kuala Lumpur by the third quarter of this year.

It joins a portfolio that includes such Thai restaurants as Som Tam and Talay Kata Mookata, both in Orchard Central, and Gin Khao in One Raffles Place and Sentosa Cove. There are four Porn’s outlets, including Alexandra Retail Centre and Kitchener Complex.

Jus Delish Group MD Ralph Liow says the company paid a seven-figure sum for the partnership with Porn’s Thai restaurant and Prajakwit will be ambassador for the chain.

Prajakwit says the time is right to take a backseat in his restaurant business. “I would like to spend more time with my 94-year-old father, who lives in Bangkok. I used to fly back once a month,” he says. “I also hope to spend more time on my education business.”

He is referring to Study Room, a tuition centre he co-owns in Toa Payoh North, an industrial estate in Singapore.

Prajakwit says it took him four years to find “the right match for my baby”. He says the Jus Delish Group has strong financial backing and was sincere in its negotiations.

Liow says that incorporating Porn’s into the Jus Delish Group is “a chance that doesn’t come twice”.
The group is a subsidiary of Micro 2000 Group, an information technology company. It also owns Kwan Inn Vegetarian Restaurant.

“Porn’s has a bigger potential to expand than other local Thai restaurants here,” says Liow. “It is a sought-after brand endorsed by a Thai celebrity.”