Malaysian Chains: Who Owns Starbucks, 7-Eleven and Marrybrown

Johor Bahru is a useful place to think about this, because the same chains appear on both sides of a causeway travellers cross expecting bargains. What a sign says about a brand's origin tells you very little about who runs it here.

Everything below is from company filings and official corporate pages.

The two American brands owned by a Malaysian company

Berjaya Food Berhad, incorporated on 21 October 2009 and listed on the main market on 8 March 2011, with its registered office at Berjaya Times Square in Kuala Lumpur, is the operator behind two familiar American names.

Its 2025 annual report states that it holds 100 percent of Berjaya Starbucks Coffee Company Sdn Bhd, which operated 301 stores in Malaysia at 30 June 2025, and 100 percent of Berjaya Roasters (M) Sdn Bhd, with 48 Kenny Rogers Roasters outlets at the same date.

The full-ownership point matters, because Starbucks Malaysia is widely described as a joint venture. On the company's own most recent published figures it is not.

The Malaysian brand under foreign ownership

OldTown White Coffee is Malaysian in origin and identity. Its own site states the product "is manufactured in Ipoh, the same town where in the 1930s the Hainanese concocted this delicious beverage", and that it is "exported to 21 countries worldwide".

The legal entities behind that site are Jacobs Douwe Egberts RTL SFM MY Sdn Bhd and Kopitiam Asia Pacific Sdn Bhd. JDE is the Netherlands-headquartered coffee group. The brand is Malaysian; the operating company is not.

The Japanese-looking brand that is Malaysian

Sushi King is the reverse case. Texchem Resources Bhd, incorporated in November 1973 and on the main board since June 2001 with head office in Penang, records "Incorporation of Sushi Kin Sdn Bhd, now operating as Sushi King Sdn Bhd" in January 1995 as "Texchem's Entry into Japanese Restaurant Chain Business".

It is a Japanese-cuisine concept created by a Malaysian company, not a franchise of a Japanese chain. Its last published milestone is 100 outlets in March 2016.

The homegrown names

Marrybrown describes itself as "Malaysia's No.1 Home-Grown Fast-Food Brand", founded in 1981, with "more than 500 locations in 16 countries", operating through Marrybrown Sdn Bhd. Its Johor Bahru headquarters is widely stated but is not published on its own contact page, so this guide does not assert it.

Secret Recipe was "Founded in 1997" and "currently operates more than 440 outlets, across the region, including Malaysia", through Secret Recipe Cakes & Café Sdn Bhd.

The Chicken Rice Shop operates through TCRS Restaurants Sdn Bhd, whose registration number implies incorporation in 1996. Its site publishes no founding year, headquarters or outlet count.

Convenience and groceries

99 Speed Mart, whose shelves carry the brands whose ownership surprises people, is the best-documented retailer in the country and its milestones read as a growth curve with dates attached. Founder Lee Thiam Wah opened a sundry store in Tepi Sungai, Klang in 1987. The 100th outlet came on 1 November 2008, the 200th on 27 June 2010, the 1,000th on 12 August 2017 in Shah Alam, the 2,000th on 25 November 2021, and the 3,000th on 28 November 2025 at Caledonia Avenue, Bestari Jaya. It listed on the main market on 9 September 2024, and Johor is among the fifteen states and territories where it trades.

7-Eleven Malaysia is a foreign brand under a Malaysian listed operator. Its first Malaysian store opened on 9 October 1984 on Jalan Bukit Bintang and is still in operation; it reached 1,000 stores in 2009 and 1,600 by June 2014. It listed on 30 May 2014 at stock code 5250, at RM 1.38 per share.

FamilyMart Malaysia is a Japanese brand operated by the Malaysian-listed QL Resources, with its first store in November 2016 and a central kitchen subsidiary holding the halal certification. QL's own retail page names Johor among seven states beyond Kuala Lumpur and Selangor where it operates.

AEON Co. (M) Bhd is Japanese-parented and Malaysian-incorporated, established in 1984 as Jaya Jusco Stores Sdn Bhd and renamed in September 2004, with over 30 stores across Malaysia and group formats including AEON Mall, MaxValu Prime, AEON Wellness, Daiso and AEON Big.

Econsave is private and Malaysian, tracing to a wooden sundry shop in Port Klang in 1955 and its first Econsave outlet in Kapar, Selangor on 8 October 1993. Its most recent published figure, dated 19 May 2020, is 87 hypermarket and supermarket outlets.

myNEWS traces to 1997 as a single newsstand, operating through myNEWS Holdings Berhad.

What this guide does not cover

Nando's Malaysia is absent; its site failed certificate verification and no operator, outlet count or brand-origin confirmation could be obtained from a primary source.

Boat Noodle, PappaRich, KK Super Mart, Mydin, Lotus's and Giant are all absent. Their sites returned errors, empty responses, missing pages or blocks, and no official corporate facts could be retrieved for any of them.

Secret Recipe's listing status, headquarters and parent are not published on its site, nor are The Chicken Rice Shop's founding year, headquarters or outlet count.

Marrybrown's headquarters location and listing status are not stated, for the reason above.

OldTown's founding year, headquarters and outlet count are not published.

Current store counts are missing for Berjaya Food, Sushi King, 7-Eleven Malaysia, FamilyMart Malaysia and myNEWS. Bursa stock codes are missing for 99 Speed Mart, myNEWS and AEON, along with AEON's Japanese parent shareholding percentage.

Whether QL is formally FamilyMart Malaysia's master franchisee is not confirmed; its own page does not use the term.

No causeway crossing figures, Johor retail statistics or Johor tourism arrivals are given. The immigration department publishes no traveller statistics on its reachable pages, the Johor state portal publishes no retail data, and the state tourism site's only figure is an undated claim about annual tourists with no year or methodology.

The stock exchange's own pages returned access errors throughout, so every listing detail above comes from the companies' own investor pages.