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Manila Bulletin devider devider The Figaro Coffee Group on digitalization and the F&B Industry

The Figaro Coffee Group on digitalization and the F&B Industry

Published Dec 22, 2021 04:17 am

Given that the world is already in an age of technological revolution that has fundamentally altered the way people live, all businesses have been required to go along the tide of digitalization so as not to be left behind. With the Covid-19 pandemic, people have been spending more time online on smartphones and social media. The growth rate of usage in data bandwidth continues to grow exponentially, also contributing to the need for constant upgrades in the infrastructure of telcos. In the past few years, we have seen the acceleration of work-from-home arrangements and meetings online. In addition, many F&B brands were born during this period, while some who have not been able to adapt have ceased to exist.

Call Center

Learning the ways of the online sphere can be quite tricky for business. According to The Figaro Coffee Group’s(FCG) Chairman, Justin Liu, simply putting up a Shopify site, Facebook page and Instagram page does not guarantee success. “Digitalization encompasses the balance of good execution of several factors, namely brand equity, product quality, availability of several e-commerce channels, partnerships with third-party channels, execution on social media channels which fits your brand, product and market as well as advertising budget, and lastly, strong offline support on logistics and customer service. Like many other legacy brands, in the past we did not put too much emphasis on these things but we saw the need to adapt and improve our capabilities on these, which we have, and luckily, we stayed relevant through the pandemic”, says Justin.

Grab

During the height of the pandemic and while restaurants were closed for dine-in, FCG put up their online channel (thefigarogroup.ph) for customers to be able to order their favorite coffees and cakes of Figaro Coffee, as well as convenient and affordable rice meals for front-liners. FCG improved the backbone systems of Angel’s Pizza website and also intensified its partnership with Grabfood, which strengthened the delivery support for its brands. Offline, FCG dedicated special housing for its production, logistics and call center staff to continue to be able to support customers’ online and offline queries.

“We will continue to focus on improvements for our online digital channels as well as social media content to strengthen brand equity and customer engagement, as well as offline backbone systems to support customers. Having a good product alone is no longer enough in continuing to stay relevant in the ever-changing digital and global environment”, says Justin.

FCG is composed of Figaro Coffee, Angel’s Pizza, Tien Ma’s Taiwanese cuisine, The Figaro Group Express and Cafe Portofino, with a store network of over 99 stores brand and systemwide.

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