MANILA, Philippines – Leading Philippine counter service bakery chain Balai ni Fruitas, listed on the Philippine Stock Exchange under the symbol BALAI, established its first Balai Pandesal store in Cebu. The store is located at 30 Cabarrubias St., Tisa, Cebu City. This marks the first Balai Pandesal store in the Visayas and Mindanao region and is a key step in its strategic plan to provide its products to all Filipinos across the nation.
Balai Pandesal baked goods will also immediately be available in Fruitas’ seven other community stores in Cebu, including its five Soy & Bean, one House of Fruitas and one Fruitas House of Desserts outlets. Its Cebu expansion will be a template for its expansion outside Mega Manila.
Balai Pandesal’s nationwide expansion will be through brick and mortar and digital locations. It successfully rolled out its smaller footprint stores through its first kiosk in Ayala Malls Cloverleaf and first local bakery in Barangay Krus na Ligas, Quezon City. Balai Pandesal is also looking at cafes, with baked goods serving as the anchor products. These will be replicated alongside its traditional community store concept. In addition, Balai Pandesal’s products are available through Fruitas Holdings’ group-wide e-commerce site, www.babotsmart.com and there will be more locations offering Balai Pandesal on GrabFood and Foodpanda. These will be complemented by Fruitas Holdings’ push into cloud kitchens supporting its nearly 30 brands.
Balai Pandesal continues to expand its product line-up, launching donuts, cake rolls, and egg pie, among others. Its list of third-party partners is also growing which includes UCC Philippines for its 3- in-1 coffee, Bahay Pastulan (Good Shepherd) in Tagaytay City for their famous peanut butter and coco jam, Zesto Philippines featuring its fruit sodas, and various sandwich spreads from Mondelez Philippines and Century Pacific Food. BALAI is eyeing to further expand the list to provide a more convenient buying experience to its customers.
BALAI is targeting to grow annual revenues to Php500 million by 2023 and Php1 billion by 2025, yet maintain double-digit net margins. This will be achieved through organic expansion and strategic acquisitions to further accelerate growth.
“Our vision is for Balai to be part of each Filipino households’ daily habit, whether by visiting their community store, kiosk, local bakery or cafe, or ordering their favorite products digitally. We see numerous pockets of opportunity within the Philippines’ more than Php300 billion baked goods market. The proceeds from the initial public offering in June, our strong internal cash generation and additional lines from our bank partners, will allow us to seize the opportunities to achieve our goal,” BALAI President and CEO Lester Yu said.