Figaro to establish more

By Cheryl M. Arcibal, Reporter

FILIPINO coffee brewer Figaro Coffee Systems Inc. will be opening two more stores in China to capture a bigger market share of the otherwise tea-drinking Asian country.

Meanwhile, on the domestic front, the company is looking at opening 20 to 30 more stores all over the country, including in Visayas and Mindanao.

Pacita Juan, Figaro’s chief executive officer, said that Figaro has 50 outlets nationwide and hopes to finish 80 stores this year. “We have three stores abroad, two in Shanghai and one in Dubai. Hopefully, we’ll open another two in China, I don’t know yet whether they would be in Beijing or Shanghai again this year,” Juan told reporters on the sidelines of the launch of the Corporate Social Responsibility Expo 2006 of the League of Corporate Foundations in Makati City.

She added that for this year, the company is looking at a profit of 5 percent to 10 percent of gross income of P1 billion. In 2005, Juan said, Figaro earned “system-wide gross revenues” of P500 million.

Juan said that the move to put up more stores in China was prompted by the growing consumption in the country, particularly coffee drinking.

She said the new stores to be established in the Philippines and even abroad could be company-owned or franchised, or a mix of both.

Juan also disclosed that there were parties from Singapore, Korea and Vietnam that have made inquiries about the possibility of taking the Figaro store in their shores. “We have inquiries [outside Asia about the possibility of putting up Figaro stores], but I think Asia is the place to be now, especially China because coffee consumption is increasing so in a tea-drinking country, it is really exciting. And we’re serving Philippine coffee there, we send coffee and we roast it in China.”

She revealed that Figaro would be serving new products, particularly those that cater to the health-conscious, which mean “lite products, no sugar, reduced fat and organic coffee.”

Despite the increase in the sales tax in the country since February, Juan noted that the demand for coffee remains strong.

“Consumption has been growing. [The coffee industry] is the only industry where demand is increasing. [The problem with the coffee industry lies with] the supply so I’d like to call farmers that if they watch out for the quality of their coffee and follow our standards, we give them a premium and we are willing to buy their coffee at higher price,” she said.

Juan added that they have been buying coffee from Kalinga, Benguet, Bacolod and said helping farmers in Batangas to revive coffee planting in the province.

http://www.manilatimes.net/national/2006/apr/22/
yehey/business/20060422bus5.html