By Bernie Cahiles-Magkilat
America’s super-premium sausages by Johnsonville LLC may soon be produced in the Philippines following its joint venture with Frabelle Fishing Corp., one of the country’s leading hotdog manufacturers.
On the launch of their joint venture firm Frabelle Corp., which is 51 percent owned by Johnsonville and 49 percent by Frabelle, company officials expressed confidence of further growing their markets and capacities to serve the hotdog and sausage loving Filipinos.
Already, the Philippine Competition Commission has already approved the joint venture of these family-owned corporations called Frabelle Corporation (FBC), which will house meat brands of Frabelle Fishing, and manage Johnsonville’s business in the Philippines.
Johnsonville CEO Nick Meriggioli hinted the possibility of putting a up a manufacturing operation in the Philippines. Frabelle has manufacturing facilities located in Caloocan, Cavite and Pampanga.
“This is just one of the options we are considering to make Johnsonville products more visible and affordable in the local setting,” he told reporters in a press briefing Monday. At present, all Johnsonville products are imported straight from the US.
“So instead of importing, we could actually make Johnsonville sausages in the Philippines,” said Meriggioli.
The joint venture will focus on the production, distribution and sales of chilled and frozen meats in the Philippines, while Johnsonville-brand sausages will be sold exclusively through Frabelle’s sales and marketing network.
Johnsonville will incorporate Frabelle’s products in its supply chain.
The joint venture will also continue to retain and distribute both brands, especially that the Frabelle brand is already well-entrenched in the Philippine market.
Michael Stayer-Suprick, Johnsonville family member and president of its international division, noted that the joint venture would help Johnsonville expand its growth in the southeast Asia market, provides a distribution and manufacturing platform to expand its product reach in the Philippines.