Originally published: Campaign Asia, 7 August 2025
Thai hot pot giant MK Restaurant has surged to the top spot as Southeast Asia’s most beloved food brand in 2025, outpacing global powerhouses like KFC and McDonald’s.
Thai restaurant chain MK Restaurant has claimed the top spot among Southeast Asia’s top 10 food brands for 2025. Known for its Thai-style hot pot (suki), noodles, dim sum, and roasted meats, MK has surpassed global giants like KFC, McDonald’s, and Burger King to become the region’s favourite.
MK Restaurant achieved an overall best brand score of 74.7, narrowly edging out Filipino fried chicken favourite Jollibee, which scored 73.7 and was last year’s leader. This marks an impressive rise for MK, which climbed from ninth place in 2024 to first in 2025. Founded in 1962 by Aunty Thongkam Mekto as a small eatery in Bangkok’s Siam Square, the restaurant has since expanded internationally, with branches in Thailand, Japan, Singapore, Indonesia, and Vietnam.
In its home market, MK dominates the hot pot (suki) segment with widespread popularity. It scored exceptionally high in Thailand for brand awareness (92%), purchase frequency (89%), quality (83%), and customer service (84%). Its high scores across most categories in Thailand ultimately secured it the top overall position in the food sector across SEA.
The ranking stems from Campaign’s authoritative list of Southeast Asia’s top 50 brands, recently revealed at Campaign360 in partnership with research firm Pureprofile. We have published reports on the top 10 brands from the surveyed markets (Indonesia, Thailand, Philippines, Malaysia, Vietnam, Singapore) across 10 sectors. The brands were evaluated using attributes such as awareness, purchase, quality, buying experience, customer service, loyalty, innovation, brand touc
Download the full “Southeast Asia’s Top 50 Brands” report here >
