Eight8ate, the food arm of businessman Dennis Uy’s Udenna, is not considering offers by new investors, and on the contrary is acquiring a new American brand amid rapid expansion of its business portfolio to 200 stores this year. Joey Garcia, Eight8ate president and CEO, told reporters at the sidelines of the Philippine Franchise Association (PFA) press conference Wednesday, March 15, that the company is acquiring 100 percent a new American food brand this year but did not divulge the company’s identity. “We are not selling, there are few discussions but we’re not even considering, were always look out for potential investors (for Eight8ate) but not selling,” he said quashing rumors that the Uy’s food unit is selling. So far, the food unit has two brands Wendy’s and Contis and its commissary Masuma, which has two sites in Arca South and Bacolor, Pampanga as the company is expanding outside of Metro Manila. For this year, Eight8ate expects to close a total of 200 stores for the two brands from the current over 160 units. He said that the company even expanded during the pandemic. Garcia also said that its brand expansion will be all company-owned. “In terms of size, we double the size in terms of revenues and system wide store count,” he said. They are now running 80 Contis stores and 70 for Wendy’s. Before the pandemic, they have less than 40 Contis stores. In terms of opportunities, he said, there are more for Wendy’s because of unpenetrated markets. Aside from its commissary in Luzon, Garcia said they also saw an opportunity for Visayas commissary because the “challenge for Contis is supply chain, so first thing first is how to get the cake.”