Philippines fast-food operator Shakey’s Pizza Asia says it plans to continue expansion across the region by opening 18 to 20 new stores annually for the next three years.

President and CEO Vicente L Gregorio told a media briefing after the company’s annual meeting that the company will be shifting to a 50-50 mixed of company-owned and franchise-operated stores in future.

Shakeys Pizza Asia currently operates 217 stores across the Philippines, with three in five of those company owned. But the franchise model will be used as the company expands into the Mindanao and Visayas regions. By the end of this year it expects to have 228 outlets trading.

“VisMin continues to become the big potential moving forward because they are under penetrated,” he said. “We continually receive inquiries there and we just opened a franchised store in Ormoc. And there are other second-tier cities that we are evaluating.”

Meanwhile, the company continues to look for opportunities to expand offshore. Talks are underway with potential partners in several Southeast Asian markets and enquiries have been received from the Middle East.

“For overseas branches, we’re looking for the right franchise partner. We want to make sure we do it right,” Gregorio said.

And Shakey’s Pizza Asia is keeping an eye out for similar businesses which it could acquire or invest in which might complement its operations at home or abroad. He said these would ideally target the same market demographic as Shakey’s Pizza.

Inside Retail Asia