Fruitas goes into bakery business, plans to initially open five stores

Fruitas Holdings Inc., the country’s leading food and beverage kiosk operator, is venturing into the bakery business.

Fruitas said in a disclosure to the stock exchange Monday it plans to initially open five stand-alone Babot’s Panaderya stores that will offer freshly baked pandesal and other bread products.

“Pan de sal is a staple in Filipinos’ daily diet. Our entry into the bakery business is a natural step to achieve our vision of having every Filipino household consume at least one Fruitas product every day. At the same time, freshly baked bread is a perfect addition to our community stores,” Fruitas president and chief executive Lester Yu said.

Fruitas decided to enter the bakery business to serve the demand of customers for freshly baked bread, he said.

The group said the local bread market could be worth P200 billion yearly. Data showed bread sales increased 30 percent in the second quarter of 2020 at the height of the lockdown.

Fruitas bread products will initially become available to consumers through community stores, CocoDelivery and soon through Babot’s Panaderya.

The company said it would also explore the sale of bread products in some of its kiosks and selected institutional customers.

Fruitas is leveraging off the baking expertise and capacity of Negril Trading Inc., which houses its De Original Jamaican Pattie brand.

The company said it would have minimum capital expenditure for this latest venture. It is building on its track record of providing Filipinos fresh and high-quality alternatives for fruit juices, soy-based products, ice cream and milk.

The company began adjusting to the realities of the distribution challenges in March 2020 brought by the pandemic and subsequent quarantines with the purchase of CocoDelivery.

Fruitas targets to double to store network to 2,000 through aggressive store rollout and acquisitions over the next five years.

It also set a target to achieve an annual net income of P500 million and revenues of P5 billion by 2025.

The share price of Fruitas climbed 4.7 percent Monday to close at P1.55.

Article and Photo originally posted by Manila Standard last February 8, 2021 8:35pm and written by Jenniffer B. Austria.