Food Passion Co.

What Food Passion Co. does

Food Passion Co., Ltd. (บริษัท ฟู้ดแพชชั่น จำกัด) is a Thailand-based restaurant holding company headquartered in Bangkok's Lak Si district. It operates a multi-brand casual dining and quick-service portfolio anchored by the heritage Bar B Q Plaza Korean BBQ chain, which has 30+ years of operating history, and the HOT-STAR Taiwanese fried chicken brand launched in 2015. Additional brands under the umbrella include JoomZapHut, Charna, Gonfoodtruck, Redsun, and Moothod, giving the company exposure to multiple cuisine formats and price points within the Thai mass consumer market.

The business is family-owned by the Choochart family and employs more than 4,000 staff, serving over 10 million customers annually nationwide. Revenue is generated through direct restaurant sales across physical locations; the company is privately held and does not disclose financial results. The holding company was formally established in 2015 to consolidate the family's restaurant operations, with international expansion signaled through the recent hiring of an SVP General Counsel whose remit covers cross-border matters.

The underlying operating model is conventional multi-unit food service: dine-in and takeaway revenue per location, centralized procurement and supply chain shared across brands, and brand-level marketing. There is no disclosed technology platform, digital ordering infrastructure, or AI-driven personalization layer described in the available information; data handling meets Thailand's PDPA requirements. Distribution is physical-only at present, with no franchising, licensing, or e-commerce revenue model publicly identified.

Name

Food Passion Co.

Legal name

บริษัท ฟู้ดแพชชั่น จำกัด

Website

https://foodpassion.co.th

Company type

Private

Founded year

2015

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

1,001–5,000 employees

Short description

Food Passion Co. is a Thailand-based, family-owned restaurant holding company operating multiple casual dining and quick-service brands including Bar B Q Plaza and HOT-STAR, serving over 10 million customers annually through 4,000+ staff.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Product category

Casual Dining Restaurants

NAICS

Restaurants and Other Eating Places (7225)

SIC

Retail-Eating Places (5812), Retail-Eating & Drinking Places (5810)

akta.pro primary industry

Ethnic & Regional Cuisine Restaurants (THAFACAD)

Keywords

• Casual dining restaurants
• Barbecue restaurant chain
• Fried chicken restaurants
• Restaurant chain operations
• Food service industry

Headquarters

HQ city

Lak Si

HQ country

Thailand

HQ region

Asia

Offices1 record

Markets served

GTM type

B2C

Offering type

Services

Cost components

Personnel, Operations, Supply Chain, Marketing or Sales, Others

Revenue model

1. Restaurant Food Sales: Revenue generated from food service operations through owned restaurant chains including Bar B Q Plaza and HOT-STAR, serving customers through dine-in experiences at physical locations nationwide.

Go-to-market motion1 record

Distribution channels3 records

Marketing channels3 records

Core offering

Food Passion Co. operates a portfolio of owned casual dining restaurant chains across Thailand, with Bar B Q Plaza as the flagship Korean-style barbecue chain serving approximately 10 million customers per year. In 2015 the company launched HOT-STAR, a Taiwanese-style fried chicken brand, and continues to operate additional sub-brands including JoomZapHut, Charna, Gonfoodtruck, Redsun, and Moothod. The company also offers takeaway and at-home ready-to-cook meal sets alongside dine-in service across its nationwide footprint.

Product overview

Food Passion Co. is a food and restaurant holding company operating multiple restaurant brands. The company manages a portfolio of dining concepts including Bar B Q Plaza (Korean BBQ, the original flagship brand), HOT-STAR (Taiwanese cuisine, launched in 2015), and several other restaurant sub-brands including JoomZapHut, Charna, Gonfoodtruck, Redsun, and Moothod. The company serves approximately 10 million customers per year with over 4,000 family members (employees) nationwide.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Brands

• Bar B Q Plaza: Barbecue/grilled meat restaurant chain, the original business that spawned Food Passion.
• HOT-STAR
• Joom Zap Hut
• Charna
• Redsun
• Moothod

Products and services

• Bar B Q Plaza Korean-style barbecue restaurant chain that is Food Passion's original flagship brand, originating over 30 years ago from a family that loved cooking for family and friends. Bar B Q Plaza serves approximately 10 million customers per year nationwide in Thailand through dine-in at physical restaurant locations, offering quality grilled meat meals and group dining experiences.
• HOT-STAR Taiwanese-style fried chicken restaurant brand launched in 2015 under Food Passion Co. to serve Thai customers seeking authentic Taiwanese cuisine. The brand follows the founder's simple philosophy of making everyone happy through quality meals, creating menus and dining experiences rooted in love and happiness.
• Joom Zap Hut (JoomZapHut)

Named customers1 record

Segments2 records

Ideal customer profiles2 records

Technology focussed No

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

Partnerships

Two partnerships are on record, tiered core.

• HOT-STARcoreOthers · 1 January 2015Taiwanese fried chicken restaurant brand launched in 2015 to serve customers craving authentic Taiwanese cuisine.
• Bar B Q PlazacoreOthersOriginal restaurant brand that started as a family cooking tradition over 30 years ago, now the flagship BBQ restaurant chain serving customers nationwide.

Scale indicators4 records

Recent moves5 records

Expansion highlights4 records

Direct peers

• Gyu-Kaku Japanese BBQ: International Japanese/Korean-style table-grill BBQ chain; direct peer in the table-BBQ dining experience category that Bar B Q Plaza operates in.
• Oishi Group: Thai restaurant holding group operating Japanese and Asian dining concepts; comparable multi-brand restaurant operator with a strong Thai consumer brand portfolio.
• Chester's Grill (Thailand): Thai grilled chicken restaurant chain with nationwide presence; directly comparable fast-casual grilled/fried chicken positioning to HOT-STAR and Bar B Q Plaza.
• Minor Food Group: Thai multi-brand restaurant operator behind The Pizza Company, Thai Express, and Burger King Thailand; directly comparable as a scaled, multi-concept restaurant holding company in Thailand.
• MK Restaurant Group: Major Thai full-service restaurant chain specializing in yakiniku and hot pot; the most direct domestic peer to Food Passion's Bar B Q Plaza given overlapping table-grill formats and Thai mass-market positioning.
• Central Restaurant Group (CRG): Thai multi-brand restaurant holding company (under Central Group) operating multiple dining concepts nationwide; comparable to Food Passion's multi-brand restaurant operator model in Thailand.
• Sizzler (Thailand): Full-service steak and grill restaurant chain operating in Thailand; comparable table-service dining format and target customer overlap with Bar B Q Plaza.

Others

• Mister Donut (Thailand): Thai bakery/snack café chain operating under a Thai operator; adjacent foodservice peer within the same Thai casual dining and snack category that Food Passion's diverse brand portfolio competes in.

Emerging players

• Bonchon Chicken: Asian-style fried chicken brand with international footprint; overlaps with Food Passion's HOT-STAR Taiwanese fried chicken concept in the same fried chicken category.

Broad incumbents

• Yum Thailand: Thai operating arm of Yum! Brands running KFC, Pizza Hut, and Taco Bell in Thailand; broad incumbent in the same restaurant category with greater capital and international scale.

Market position

Strengths4 records

Weaknesses4 records

Competitive moat4 records

Key risks5 records

Key highlights5 records

Customer concentration

• Instagraminstagram.com/foodpassion.co.th
• Facebookfacebook.com/profile.php
• LinkedInlinkedin.com/company/foodpassion-people

Compliance1 record

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Profiles9 records

Subsidiaries6 records

Funding overview

Funding rounds

Investors

Funding detail is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

M&A

Investments

M&A and investment is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

Frequently asked questions about Food Passion Co.