Shakey’s Pizza Asia Ventures Inc., which owns the American pizza brand in the region, is confident of hitting double digit growth this year betting on the basis of the strong following of its stable of brands and continued store expansion.
Vicente L. Gregorio, Shakey’s president and CEO, said the company looks to add 400 more stores this year, most of which will be the Potato Corner brand.
The business had a store network of 2,141 in 2023 composed of Shakey’s Pizza, Peri-Peri Charcoal Chicken and Potato Corner.
Gregorio said the company continues to expand even though consumer spending is moderate.
“The inflationary environment has affected spending habits. Hence, food and beverage is highly promotional. They are very value-seeking and value-oriented,” Gregorio said at the company’s annual stockholders’ meeting on Thursday.
Gregorio projects Shakey’s topline and bottomline growing in the mid teens this year as the cost of doing business tapers off in the latter part of the year.
“And because of softening input costs, we believe margins will improve over the next half,” he said.
Last year, Shakey’s posted profits of P1.08 billion, up 23 percent from only P874 million last year. Revenue grew 39 percent to P14.13 billion from P10.16 billion. System-wide sales of P18.64 billion was up 32 percent.
In the first quarter however, the company reported a 15 percent profit decline to P171 million from P201.18 million amid a soft market.
System-wide sales were up 15 percent to P4.8 billion.
Gregorio said the company is seeing very attractive growth potential in China and Malaysia where the company has started to introduce its brands.
