Food group Max’s Group Inc. (MGI) is looking at franchising its cloud kitchen as it gears up for the recovery of the business back to pre-pandemic levels.
Dave Fuentebella, MGI director, said the appeal of Max’s brands continues to be strong, attracting younger franchise applicants.
“Easily more than half of those applying have their own lots, they have their own space,” Fuentebella said at a briefing after the company’s shareholders meeting last week.
“What makes (the cloud kitchen) more interesting to them (franchise applicants) is that the new store models are more accommodating, in terms of capex because the spend base in the new store models is about half of what it was before. In terms of returns, it’s more attractive to the franchisee,” he added.
Fuentebella said the group has shifted its approach in its store expansions from a brick-and-mortar concept to apoint of access, which makes expansion much faster.
For the year, Max’s is looking to open 143 point of access stores and 60 brick-and- mortar stores, of which nine will be in North America and the rest are in the Philippines.
“Then you add on around 50 delivered fresh daily formats of Krispy Kreme, and around 33 cloud kitchens,” said Fuentebella.
“Franchising is not just confined to totally building a new store. It’s part of the deal. It also includes franchising of cloud kitchens, which we have a number of in the market to date.
That’s a new format for the current franchisees for them to consider,” he added.
Max’s over the weekend reported it grew its profit to P42 million in the first quarter, nearly double that of the P22 million recorded last year.
Revenues were at P2.17 billion, up 18 percent from P1.84 billion in 2021. System-wide sales, which measure the sales of both company-owned stores and franchises, hit P3.55 billion, up 23 percent from P2.89 billion.
Max’s portfolio consists of homegrown and international brands such as Max’s Restaurant, Pancake House, Yellow Cab Pizza, Krispy Kreme, Sizzlin’ Steak, Teriyaki Boy, Dencio’s, Kabisera, Maple, Jamba Juice, and Eats.
As of end-March, it had a 665 outlets across the brands, 603 of which are in the Philippine and the rest across various locations in North America, the Middle East, and Asia.
