Udenna’s food unit not selling, but expanding & acquiring US brand

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.”