Oldtown confirms explosion at its unit Emperor's Kitchen

Oldtown has more than 200 cafe outlets, with the most outlets being in Malaysia and Indonesia.

KUALA LUMPUR: OldTown White Coffee chain operator Oldtown Bhd has confirmed that an explosion occurred at its central food processing centre in Subang Jaya.

In a statement to Bursa Malaysia, the kopi tiam outlet operator and beverage manufacturer said  it had temporarily ceased the food processing operation at its wholly-owned subsidiary Emperor's Kitchen Sdn Bhd’s (EK)  plant following the explosion there on Thursday.

According to Oldtown Bhd, the incident at Jalan Subang 10, Subang Industrial Park, started at about 8am.

It only affected the production floor, while adjacent areas occupied by other operating units and administration office were not affected.

Oldtown said the Fire and Police Departments as well as the management were still conducting investigation to determine the cause of the explosion.

It confirmed that as a result of the explosion, several employees were injured. The management is closely monitoring their condition in the hospital.

“The company and the management are committed to provide full support and assistance to the injured employees,” it said.

Based on various reports, there were at least seven victims, all Myanmar and Nepali nationals. They were reportedly rushed to Serdang Hospital for treatment.

Oldtown said the food processing operation was expected to re-start “via auxiliary means in the shortest time possible” in order to mitigate any supply disruption to food and beverage chain outlets. 

It said there was no impact to the coffee and beverage manufacturing and warehousing facilities.

Oldtown also said that the board currently was unable to determine the financial impact to EK, but it believed that the damages were adequately insured pending the insurance company’s assessment.

“An appropriate announcement will be made in due course once EK’s normal operations are resumed and losses are ascertained,” it said.