Peri-Peri Charcoal Chicken and Sauce Bar (Peri-Peri), a brand owned by Shakey’s Pizza Asia Ventures Inc. (PIZZA), is scaling up its expansion program further in 2023 after ramping up store openings last year, particularly in the second half of 2022.

In a disclosure to the Philippine Stock Exchange, the firm said Peri-Peri opened five new stores last year in Central and North Luzon, expanding beyond Metro Manila.

Peri-Peri was acquired by Shakey’s in 2019 with 21 stores under its belt. To date, the roast chicken chain already has triple the number of outlets at 68 stores.

“Peri-Peri has grown significantly over the past 3 years, despite the pandemic. In a short span of time it has become a strong number 2 player in the category,” said PIZZA President and CEO Vicente Gregorio.

He added that, “Given its strong performance in the Metro, we believe it’s high time to expand to new cities and give their local residents a taste of Peri-Peri.” In December, the charcoal chicken chain opened in Baguio City. The group also opened in the SM mall in Tuguegarao, the capital city of Cagayan and an emerging area in the North.

Peri-Peri also built a new store along the North Luzon Expressway Shell of Asia. Other new branches were likewise opened in Cabanatuan, Nueva Ecija and Cauayan, Isabela, populous cities in Central and North Luzon in the fourth quarter of 2022.

“The fantastic response to Peri-Peri is greatly encouraging. To us, it means we’re on the right track – expanding the reach of Peri-Peri to provide more guests with unique and memorable experiences. We are not going to stop here. We still see more opportunities for Peri-Peri. These stores in the North serve as our proof of concept,” said Gregorio.

Recently, Peri-Peri built new stores at the Clark International Airport and in Malate, its 60th store. Innovative store formats were also rolled out such as the fly-thru in BF Homes Aguirre.