Manchester United Football Club has awarded the exclusive rights to own, operate and franchise its restaurants in Asia and China to Manchester United Food & Beverage (MUFB).

MUFB is a 50:50 joint venture between FJ Benjamin and the Rowsley Company. It plans to open a minimum of 90 Manchester United restaurants in the next decade.

The first two, which will open by the end of this year, will be in Singapore and Beijing. Future sites include Malaysia, Hong Kong, Thailand, Taiwan, South Korea, The Philippines, Indonesia, Japan, India and Brunei. The Chinese market will be MUFB's major focus.

The restaurants will be called Manchester United REDS Cafe.Restaurant (REDS). REDS will aim at families and will offer all day casual dining with mid-price Western foods.

Peter Lim, controller of Rowsley and FJ Benjamin will each invest $1m Singapore dollars into MUFB. Lim will play an ongoing role in raising funds for the venture. Under an agreement, Manchester United PLC (MUPLC) has an option to acquire eight percent of MUFB.

Chief Executive of MUPL, Peter Kenyon said, 'We are pleased to be working with MUFB on this exciting new venture. China and Asia are very important markets offering us many growth opportunities. Manchester United is already a well-known name in China with millions of fans. We believe that MUFB has the right expertise in place to entrench REDS as a household name in casual dining in China and Asia.'