The Sep Eeli restaurant, well known in Vientiane for its fish flavoured noodle soup ( khao piek louk xin pa ) or rice noodle soup with fish meatballs, is set to open more branches in neighbouring countries in the years to come.

“We already have a branch of Sep Eeli in Phuket province, Thailand, under the Sep Eeli copyright after our name was registered with the Lao Ministry of Science and Technology recently,” the owner and founder of the Sep Eeli franchise, Latsamy Vetsaphong, told Vientiane Times this week.

She says many potential business partners have expressed interest in buying a franchise to operate a Sep Eeli brand noodle restaurant in both Europe and Asean.

“Recently I had an informal discussion with our business partners, one of whom is interested in buying our franchise to open an outlet in Poland. I think it is a great opportunity for business expansion but the lack of well-trained chefs is a critical issue,” she said.

Latsamy said there should be at least three Lao chefs who are professionally trained to work at franchise restaurants in each country.

“This is still a problem for us because many chefs and cooks do their training at Pakpasak Technical College but they are all snapped up by restaurants and hotels in Laos,” she said, adding that she continues to make enquiries about newly-trained chefs every year.

In Laos, khao piek or rice noodle soup is a popular meal for people on the go because it is easy to eat and cook. Office workers in a rush order a hearty bowl of slippery long noodles for their breakfast almost every day, slurping down the satisfying flavours with relish.

Within the next 10 years, the noodle franchise should expand to more than 3-5 Asean countries, Latsamy says.

The expansion of franchise restaurants depends on the budget of the buyers, but the design and décor of the eateries will follow the original Sep Eeli style.

Latsamy says there are at least 7-8 Sep Eeli noodle shops at various shopping malls in Vientiane and this year three branches will open in Luang Prabang, Champassak and Attapeu provinces.

“We are in the process of quality checks of our products to make sure they are in line with international standards; we’d also like to become a supplier of instant noodles and ingredients in the future,” she added.

After the launch of the franchise in Myanmar this July, watch out for Sep Eeli noodle soup in Cambodia, Malaysia and Vietnam and enjoy a taste of home away from home.