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Little Caesars Pizza Philippines will launch with its first restaurant next month. The move continues the expansion of the brand’s international footprint with new restaurants in Southeast Asia. The first restaurant to open under the new franchise relationship with local operator Palmtree PH Foods Corp will be located at the Metrosquare Building in Manila.
Senior VP of International for Little Caesars Pizza Paula Vissing said he believes the Philippines is a perfect fit for the company’s international expansion due to its strong affinity for both pizza and value.
Palmtree owner James Kodrowski, who manages a group of companies that operate in the region, said: “Little Caesars Pizza is exactly what this market needs … We believe that the Hot-N-Ready concept will have undeniable market appeal, as well as our commitment to excellent guest service, and superior value. It is our ambition to make Little Caesars the new favorite pizza of the Philippines.”
Little Caesars is the third largest pizza chain in the world, currently operating in 23 countries and territories. It will also open its first location in Singapore in January.
Jollibee Malaysia has opened its first outlet – in the beachside city of Kota Kinabalu. CEO Ernesto Tanmantiong said opening in Malaysia marked a new chapter for the group. “We invite Malaysians to come and see for themselves why people line up for hours.”
Jollibee Foods head of international business, Dennis Flores, said Jollibee is beloved throughout Asia, because it appeals to diverse tastes and cultures.
“This has propelled us to become the fastest-growing Asian restaurant company, and we are thankful for the overwhelming support. It drives us to do better for our customers, and to continue to serve delicious food with our signature warm service.”
The Jollibee Malaysia opening follows the brand’s recent expansion into London and Manhattan as its rapidly expands its global store network to surpass 4300.
After making its debut in the capital of Sabah, Jollibee Malaysia plans further outlets in major cities across the country.
Twenty-seven people have been awarded the auspicious title of beer sommelier by discount chain Homeplus. The discount chain’s first Macmelie Contest – macmelie is a portmanteau of the Korean word maekju, or beer, and sommelier – on Saturday saw 200 contestants gather at a convention center in Gangnam District, southern Seoul, to take a comprehensive test for a chance to become Homeplus-certified beer sommeliers.
A total of 10,000 people had taken an online preliminary test to qualify to attend the Macmelie Contest.
The 27 contestants who passed the test on Saturday with over 70 points out of a 100 were awarded Macmelie ID cards. They were also given the opportunity to be the first to try out Homeplus’ newest beer imports and work together with the company to develop new beer products.
The test included a written paper, worth 60 points, and a more interactive round – inevitably including a beer tasting test – worth 40 points.
Some of the written questions tested contestants’ basic knowledge of beer, for example by asking for the German city that hosts Oktoberfest or the brew’s four core ingredients. Other questions were more difficult. One asked for the historic period when Duke Wilhelm IV of Bavaria adopted the German Beer Purity Law, while another asked for the number of indents that beer bottle caps have.
The interactive questions were also challenging. Contestants had to guess how many milliliters of beer a cup held and also identify beer types by taste.
Lee Ik-jin scored the highest out of all contestants with 84 points. “I didn’t expect to win first place, but I think my experience drinking a lot of beer in the past helped.”
Homeplus currently offers around 690 types of local and foreign beer. The company says it hopes to enrich Korea’s beer consumption culture through its Macmelie contest.
“We’ve been offering beer from around the world to meet rising demand that we are now even called the beer mecca,” said Kim Min-soo, a brand marketing manager at Homeplus.
Global grocery markets are likely to generate an additional US$1.9 trillion in sales by 2023, led by Asian countries, according to new research data. The IGD forecast, based on IMF, World Bank, UN and Oanda base data, predicts Asia will see the strongest real growth – from population growth or consumers spending more on grocery – and is set to account for 47 per cent of the additional spend between 2018 and 2023. The forecast anticipates that nearly half (44 per cent) of extra sales will be created in Asia, which will add more than Africa, Europe and Latin America combined.
Asia as a region will contain seven of the largest global grocery markets by 2023, with a combined market size of US$3.8 trillion.
On growth in Asia, Nick Miles, head of Asia Pacific at IGD said: “China’s grocery market is expected to continue growing over the next five years, establishing itself as the largest grocery market globally. While growth varies between markets across Asia, countries such as India, Indonesia, Pakistan and Vietnam will continue to grow in importance for retailers and suppliers given the large populations, improving levels of GDP per capita and the development of modern trade. Retail partnerships have also in some cases helped retailers accelerate growth ahead of the market, and we expect more of these relationships to emerge and develop over the next year.
“Grocery growth in Asia continues to benefit from a rapidly growing middle class, fast development and adoption of new technology, improved infrastructure and logistics networks, plus improvements to retail standards. Modern trade retailers continue to expand their store networks and improve existing operations.
Meanwhile, traditional trade still plays a role, with mom-and-pop stores modernising their offerings and tailoring services to local communities. In countries like China and India this is being aided by online retailers such as Alibaba and Amazon.
“Across Asia the pace of development and focus of retailing varies by market. However, online is expected to be the fastest growing channel regionally over the next five years,” said Miles.
“Online grocery retailing is already well established in countries like South Korea, Japan and China and we expect the share of sales accounted for by channel in these markets to increase to over 10 per cent by 2023.
While online grocery retailing is growing rapidly across Southeast Asia we expect it to still account for less than 2 per cent of sales in most markets in five years’ time.”
Fast-growing Chinese cafe chain Luckin Coffee has raised US$200 million in its latest funding round, effectively valuing the company at a stunning $2.2 billion. That’s up to $700 million more than its value was estimated just one month ago when the quest for funding was announced.
Launched only in January, the company had already opened more than 1700 outlets in 21 Mainland China cities by last month. Its rapid growth is based on an inexpensive delivery service concept and online ordering system.
An aggressive competitive strategy involves an IT-focused approach whereby all customers must purchase coffee via an app, with which they can then monitor brewing progress via livestream. Its pricing is considerably less than Starbucks.
Luckin said the latest funding round was led by Singapore Government sovereign wealth fund GIC and China International Capital Corp. They were likely attracted by a mid-term plan for an IPO of the Luckin business in either Hong Kong or New York. GIC was a participant in a similar capital raising in July.
A Deliveroo restaurant has opened in Hong Kong in a trial which, if successful, could see its own-branded eateries opened globally.
Called Deliveroo Food Market, the outlet will serve as both a kitchen for delivering online orders, and a customer-facing storefront where diners can choose between 15 dining concepts.
The 1500sqft kitchen which cost HK$7.5 million (US$960,000) to build, does not have seating for dine-in.
“We find there is an opportunity to bring our online to offline model to our customers,” Brian Lo, Deliveroo GM said.
With Hong Kong boasting some of the most expensive rental prices of any major international city, the pressure on restaurant operators to develop concepts which perform is very high.
“This model works very well for them,” said Lo.
The debut Deliveroo restaurant will open in Sai Ying Pun as an extension of the brand’s Editions program, where eateries share kitchen space to fulfil Deliveroo delivery orders.
Five restaurant brands will share the Deliveroo restaurant space in Hong Kong, offering a combined 15 concepts: Chinese chain Crystal Jade, Pizza Express, Pololi Group, Beef & Liberty and Red Sauce Hospitality.
Singapore-headquartered Crystal Jade is using the kitchen to launch Lao Er and Brother Kwok, two delivery-only virtual brands targeting younger consumers by offering a modern twist on traditional noodle and fried rice dishes.
“This is a location we can have a closer touch with the residents nearby and understand their dining behaviour,” said Wincy Cheung, Crystal Jade’s assistant marketing & communications director. “It allows us to test our new brands. If we opened a physical store, we’d have to consider a lot of things. This delivery platform allows us to reach more customers at a location that we’re not already in,” she said.
Another participant in the trial is Pizza Express which plans to test a new concept called The Pasta Project.
“Deliveroo’s Food Market allows customer-facing trials of new concepts to launch in market much faster, just as we have done with The Pasta Project,” said Pizza Express MD of international, Liam Collette.
He stressed that restaurants are not going to be eliminated by delivery and the company will continue to expand.
Pololi Group will offer Shaka with American-style sushi rolls and Killer Golden Bird with fried chicken, while Beef & Liberty is debuting the vegetarian and vegan Leaves & Liberty concept, using Impossible Meat.
Lo said virtual restaurant brands are already supporting the business of Deliveroo’s partner restaurants. Kai, which serves up customised poke bowls, and Blazed offering Hawaiian BBQ platters are both virtual brands launched by Pololi Limited at the first Deliveroo Editions site, a so-called ‘dark kitchen’ in Wan Chai cooking only for delivery orders, without a customer interface. Both brands have succeeded as a delivery concept, leading to brick-and-mortar stores.
Sai Ying Pun appeal
Deliveroo chose Sai Ying Pun as home for its first Food Market due to the neighbourhood’s fast-expanding food, drink and cafe scene, which is attracting local and expat foodies alike. Deliveroo is also working with partner restaurants to create new corporate-specific offerings for the growing number of businesses now moving into SYP and surrounding districts such as Kennedy Town and Sheung Wan.
“Residential projects, business development and cultural sites are flourishing in the western districts of Hong Kong Island, and yet many popular restaurant brands have little presence in the area,” said Lo.
“Sai Ying Pun is an exciting location for future growth and we are pleased to offer our partners restaurants more reach into this vibrant district and its surrounding areas. In the coming year, Deliveroo will be looking for more opportunities to expand into Kowloon and the New Territories to bring our Food Market concept to more customers across Hong Kong.”
The Sai Ying Pun location is expected to employ up to 30 on-site staff in its kitchen and customer spaces.
Lotteria is raising burger prices. The fast food franchise announced Wednesday that it was going to raise the price of 11 of its burgers by an average of 2.2 percent. Its Teri Burger, for example, will now cost 2,300 won ($2.04), up from the original 2,000 won. The price of the Classic Cheese Burger will rise from 4,000 won to 4,200 won.
“We have decided to increase prices due to economic factors, but hope to offer customers higher quality and service,” read a statement from the franchise.
Cafe franchise Angel-in-us Coffee also announced it would raise prices of 17 of its beverages by an average of 2.7 percent, or 200 won. Both Lotteria and the cafe chain are operated by Lotte GRS, the food business subsidiary of Lotte Group.
Angel-in-us cited higher prices of ingredients – like coffee beans and milk, as well as higher labor costs – for the beverage price hike.
Filipino cafe chain Bo’s Coffee plans to more than double its store network within four years and is also eyeing expansion into the Middle East. In an interview, founder Steve Benitez says the ambitious growth plan has been fuelled by strong local demand. With 103 cafes currently, Benitez is targeting between 200 and 250 by 2022.
“Our job is to make sure that we are able to popularize coffee and be able to supply so much, not only in the Philippines but globally,” he said.
In its home market, Bo’s Coffee, which was founded in 1996, will be targeting Luzon, especially given the brand has “only scratched the surface” there to date.
In the Middle East, Bo’s Coffee plans to open a second store in Qatar shortly, followed by three more within two years. Other markets in the region are now in its sights.
The expansion plans will be accelerated following an investment by Philippine-focused Navegar Fund which was attracted to Bo’s Coffee by its efforts to support local coffee-growing communities.
“Seventy to 80 per cent of our coffee beans are sourced locally,” said Benitez. “We were trailblazers. We started featuring Philippine coffee and the other shops followed after.”
Bo’s Coffee recently opened a 300sqm flagship store in Cebu which supports social enterprises by partnering with local micro-small entrepreneurs in their store interiors, products, and merchandise inside.
International pizza franchise Pezzo has launched in Brunei Darussalam. The brand, operating under Satami Group of Companies, features a “Grab & Go” kiosk serving pizza by the slice for immediate purchase, and a “mix and match” pizza purchase option, whereby customers can collate their own pizza out of 12 different flavours. The brand stakes its reputation on generous toppings with shredded mozzarella cheese.
Pezzo, best-known for its circus-themed design, is exclusively using ingredients certified under the Brunei Halal procedure in the store.
In May of this year, Pezzo launched in Cambodia. The company now boasts more than 120 kiosk outlets, mainly in China, Indonesia, Malaysia, Myanmar, Philippines, Singapore and Thailand.
Taiwanese dumpling chain Din Tai Fung has opened in Covent Garden, London. The new 8000sqft Din Tai Fung London eatery is the franchise’s 153rd globally, and is the first of at least two outlets planned for the city. A second store is planned for Centre Point next year.
The Din Tai Fung London store has been launched by Taster Food UK in partnership with Singapore-based BreadTalk Group.
BreadTalk Group CEO Henry Chu said: “The group will leverage on our experience of operating Din Tai Fung in Singapore and Thailand, and the strength of our overseas partners to continue the tradition of delivering an authentic Taiwanese dining experience to Londoners.”
Brand founder and chairman George Quek commented that there is potential to open 20 Din Tai Fung outlets in Britain, serving as a starting point for further expansion into Europe.
Din Tai Fung has already opened in Australia, China, Hong Kong, Indonesia, Japan, Malaysia, Philippines, South Korea, the US and the UAE. It was recognised by the New York Times in 1993 as one of the world’s top 10 restaurants.
Japan Foods has entered a joint venture with Minor Singapore to support each other’s operations in Japan, Thailand and China. Japan Foods is to operate the partners’ Thai restaurants in Japan and support Japanese cuisine operations. Minor Singapore will meanwhile run Japanese outlets in Thailand and China, supporting the preparation of Thai cuisine.
The JV is being funded by a combined shareholder loan of $2.3 million to be disbursed equally for working capital. Japan Foods will fund its half of the loan with internal cash resources.
Japan Foods executive chairman and CEO Takahashi Kenichi said he believes the expanded network will “make us more attractive as a franchise partner to Japanese brand owners who may be looking to expand beyond their local market”.
Minor Singapore executive chairman and CEO Dellen Soh said the partnering firms “share many synergies, including strong brand portfolios and good operating track records”.
Chinese tea bakery Cheese Tea Bakery Nayuki has launched its first overseas store at VivoCity. The popular brand, credited as a forerunner in pairing fruit teas with soft European-style bread items, is offering a one-for-one promotion to celebrate the opening. A wave of similar businesses has emerged within China and throughout the region following the brand’s business model.
Cheese Tea Bakery Nayuki is entering the Singaporean market under a joint venture agreement with local bakery franchise BreadTalk Group.
4FINGERS Group, the group behind innovative fast-casual dining brand 4FINGERS, announced its acquisition of Mex Out, one of Singapore’s leading Mexican food concepts. This acquisition is part of the group’s plan to accelerate Mad Mex’s roll out in Singapore, following its recent acquisition of a 50% stake in the leading Australian Mexican quick-service restaurant (QSR) brand.
4FINGERS Group intends to re-brand the four Mex Out outlets into Mad Mex establishments from the first quarter of 2019, making Mad Mex one of the largest Mexican food and beverage concepts in Singapore by revenue.
Until then, Mex Out will continue regular operations.
This buyout continues the Group’s push into the growing fresh and healthy segment in the F&B industry and its commitment to bring Mad Mex to Southeast Asia.
“We are excited to be able to so quickly establish Mad Mex’s presence in Singapore, and are entering an exciting new phase. With Mad Mex’s strong brand and proven track record, we are very confident of its growth in the region,” said Vijay Sethu, Director of 4FINGERS.
This acquisition also enables the Group to further capitalise on menu innovation, shared services and other economies of scale.
4FINGERS continues to grow their flagship brand, and with the current focus on growth outside of Singapore, the brand looks to close the year with 14 4FINGERS outlets in Malaysia.
The brand is also continuing to spread its wings beyond Asia, with their maiden U.S. outlet set to open in Los Angeles in 2019, as well as three new outlets in Australia.
Fortnum & Mason Asia sales are soaring, prompting the UK luxury-food retailer to plan more stores. In Hong Kong, the chain achieved a 55 per cent increase in sales in the year to July, helping it book a sixth consecutive year of double-digit sales and profit growth. Two new stores are now trading in South Korea – in Shinsegae Gyong-Gi and Shinsegae Gangnam – and options in other Asian markets are being assessed. Another new store opened in London.
Global sales for Fortnum & Mason grew 12 per cent, reaching £126 million (US$161 million), while profit soared 26 per cent to £9.6 million. The company is now delivering products to a record 125 markets worldwide from its online sales channels.
Sales at its flagship store in London rose 10 per cent – during a time most department stores in the UK have been struggling to maintain sales growth and profits. Travel retail stores in Heathrow and St Pancras International train station rose 12 per cent.
“This year has not been without its challenges, but we’re proud to report another exceptional trading period,” said Fortnum & Mason CEO Ewan Venters.
“By being faithful to our heritage and pedigree, focusing on the creation of extraordinary products and exceptional service, and delivering our world-renowned products to customers anywhere in the world, I am pleased that we are able to meet the growing demand for quality and impeccably-sourced products.”
He said he was “particularly pleased” with the increased sales of Fortnum & Mason Asia and has great confidence in the two new spaces in South Korea.
Quantium Solutions, a leading end-to-end logistics service provider in Australia, has announced a partnership with The Healthy Chef, a company founded by internationally lauded chef, nutritionist and award-winning cookbook author Teresa Cutter. The partnership will help the Australian business expand its eCommerce presence in the Asia Pacific, and it is also the first in the Australian food industry for Quantium Solutions.
Owned by Singapore Post, Quantium Solutions is an established eCommerce logistics solutions provider in the Asia Pacific, operating in 19 markets, and handling every touch point of their partners’ supply chain process, from delivery to fulfilment. It enables major eCommerce companies – including some of the world’s largest fashion and beauty brands, and now, the Australian food industry – to expand their footprint globally.
Founder of The Healthy Chef, Teresa Cutter is one of Australia’s leading authorities on healthy cooking. She is also known internationally, having designed menus and recipes around the world for InterContinental Hotels Group, and publishing a weekly column for Time Magazine in the USA. Dedicated to improving the health of individuals, Teresa launched The Healthy Chef eCommerce site in 2012 to sell organic, wholefood nutritional products and her bestselling cookbooks to Australians and overseas customers. Since its launch, the eCommerce store has seen consistent year-on-year growth in its online orders.
The Healthy Chef enlisted Quantium Solutions to help the business take its popular products, such as Whey Protein Isolate and Organic Pea Protein, to more customers overseas. Quantium Solutions will handle its warehousing, packaging and delivery of orders across Australia, New Zealand and around the world.
Teresa Cutter, Founder of The Healthy Chef, said: “Our customers are our priority, so it’s important that they receive their order quickly and effectively. With Quantium Solutions an order can now take two to three days to reach our customers in the Asia Pacific. If there are any issues with deliveries, we can count on someone there to rectify the situation immediately. Having Quantium Solutions as part of our team is reassuring and enables us to expand with outstanding service.”
Per Gustafsson, Australia and New Zealand General Manager at Quantium Solutions, said: “We are very excited to have The Healthy Chef onboard as they are our first customer from the food industry. Having worked with major hotels around the world, Teresa has insights to the demands and buying power of overseas destinations. Also, Australia’s proximity to leading eCommerce markets like China, Singapore, and Southeast Asia, makes it ideal for Australian brands to take their products to larger and more lucrative markets. With a well-established network across the Asia Pacific, Quantium Solutions is able to help brands like The Healthy Chef expand overseas.”
