Koufu will bring its Supertea and R&B Tea brands to the Philippines, after subsidiary Super Tea entered into a master franchise agreement with Shakey’s Pizza Asia Ventures.
This is Koufu’s maiden entry into the Philippines, and it said the tea beverage brands will act as a catalyst for further growth of Koufu’s brands into the region.
In a release on August 24, Koufu said Shakey’s will be awarded the rights for a term of seven years. They will adopt a co-branding strategy to sell selected R&B Tea drinks in Shakey’s and Peri Peri stores in the first year of business, and subsequently open at least five self-operated stand-alone R&B Tea outlets.
In addition, Shakey’s also has the rights to sub-franchise R&B Tea to sub-franchisees within the seven-year term. Koufu will collect franchise fees, royalties and marketing fees as part of the agreement.
Shakey’s owns and operates a chain of fast casual restaurants with more than 200 outlets, and is the Philippines’ market leader in both the chained pizza full-service and chained full-service restaurants.
The release also added the Philippines market is receptive to the bubble tea culture, with a “growing bubble tea market” and offers “huge business opportunities” for Super Tea.
In addition, Koufu noted the Philippines has a large population of approximately 45 million within the age group of between 15 to 39 years old, which is the target market for bubble tea.
Pang Lim, Koufu’s Executive Chairman and Chief Executive Officer said the group has “carefully considered the market trends found the conditions in the Philippines to be favourable, where there has been a growing receptiveness towards the bubble tea culture in recent years.”
Shares of Koufu closed at 67.5 cents, 0.74% lower than the previous close of 68 cents.
