SHAKEY’S Pizza Asia Ventures, Inc. (SPAVI) recently opened the first R&B milk tea store in Metro Manila as part of the company’s expansion plans.
The listed company said in a stock exchange disclosure on Wednesday that the first R&B store is situated in Retiro, Quezon City. The store is also the country’s first milk tea shop that offers a drive-through option.
“R&B is one of the leading milk tea and bubble tea brands in Singapore. It currently has more than 1,000 outlets worldwide, spanning across China, US, Singapore, Cambodia, Vietnam, Malaysia, and Indonesia,” SPAVI said.
In 2020, SPAVI forged a master franchise agreement with Singapore-based Koufu Group Ltd. to bring the R&B milk tea brand into the country.
Since then, the listed firm rolled out the milk tea brand in more than half of its Shakey’s Pizza and Peri-Peri Charcoal Chicken outlets, with dine-in and delivery choices.
“We are very excited about the opening of the first R&B store here in Manila. For the past year, R&B has been leveraging the company’s expansive store network and broad customer base to scale. The brand is performing better than expected, and we believe that it can accelerate further as we begin building its store network,” SPAVI President and Chief Executive Officer Vicente L. Gregorio said.
“This innovative store concept was designed with the needs of our guests in mind. Our guests want safe and convenient ways to satisfy their craving for milk tea. Thus, we built the first drive-through milk tea store to wow them,” he added.
For the first six months of 2021, SPAVI opened 16 new outlets, ending the period with 295 stores within its network. The new outlets are designed in cost-efficient store formats designed to cater to off-premise guests.
On Wednesday, shares of SPAVI at the local bourse rose 0.49% or four centavos to close at P8.14 apiece. — Revin Mikhael D. Ochave
