A spicy IPO next on the menu?

THE Jumbo Group of restaurants, known for its signature chilli crab dish, could go public next year.

The company is planning to raise about S$30 million, partly to expand in China, according to a Bloomberg report.

A spokeswoman for Jumbo told The Business Times that "we do not comment on market speculation".

Jumbo chief executive Ang Kiam Meng has spoken about a potential listing in an end-2012 interview.

"Listing is always an option," he said then. "I think when the business grows to a certain size, a certain profit, listing is very natural."

The potential move comes as the group, which runs 16 outlets and employs 800 people, spreads its wings beyond Singapore.

Last November, Jumbo set up shop in Shanghai, its sixth seafood restaurant.

In the past few years, Jumbo has also ventured beyond its traditional Chinese seafood offerings, opening restaurants around popular trends like hotpot dining and Japanese ramen.

In 2010, it took over the well-known Ng Ah Sio bak kut teh (pork rib soup) chain, which has four outlets today.

It also has a catering business.

Jumbo Seafood started out in 1987. Ang Hon Nam, the father of Ang Kiam Meng, bought over a failed restaurant at the East Coast Seafood Centre together with nine other friends, including Ng Ah Sio bak kut teh founder Ng Siak Hai.

The younger Ang joined in 1993, leaving his software engineering job to join the business his father was running.

In 1996, turnover was more than S$8.5 million.

By 2006, there were four Jumbo restaurants, the other three at Riverside Point, The Riverwalk, and NSRCC SAFRA Resort in Changi. Revenue was about S$30 million. The Ang family owned about half of Jumbo's shares.

The company opened its fifth outlet in Dempsey Hill in 2008. By 2009, revenue was S$51 million. It was also in 2009 that Jumbo launched its JPOT hotpot offering, as well as its Yoshimaru ramen bar.

In 2011, Jumbo started its Chui Huay Lim Teochew Cuisine restaurant.

Its latest venture is the J Cafe outlet offering Singaporean food, launched in August 2014.

Even as Jumbo heads for a possible listing, business has been patchy for its listed peers.

Tung Lok, a Catalist-listed restaurant group that includes seafood, fine dining and various Chinese dining concepts, was hit hard by rising manpower and rental costs.

It reported a S$6.8 million loss on S$77.9 million of revenue for its financial year ended March 2014 - its third consecutive year of losses.

Its shares last traded at 11.9 cents, a low not seen for several years.

But fellow Catalist restaurant chain Japan Foods reported net profit of S$7.3 million on S$62.8 million of revenue for its financial year ended March 2014.

Shares in the company, which is behind brands like Ajisen Ramen, Menya Musashi and Osaka Ohsho, have tripled in price in the last two years.

It currently trades at about 15 times historical earnings.