MANILA, Philippines—Red Ribbon Bakeshop, a wholly owned subsidiary of Jollibee Foods Corp., is hoping its new products will drive growth in the coming months, even as the economic downturn slows consumer spending.

Red Ribbon South Luzon operations head Froilan Manotok said the introduction of new cakes, as well as promotion and advertising activities, had shielded the homegrown bakeshop against the adverse effects of the recession.

“We’re feeling the crisis, but not that much. We still have positive growth over last year in terms of sales. We also still have a relatively strong domestic economy,” he said in an interview.

He related that the company was able to respond to the crisis well by coming up with promos that still encouraged purchase amid tough times.

He said Red Ribbon’s cake slice offering was a big hit among consumers who wanted to have their cake fix, but did not want to buy the entire cake.

For this year, he said the company plans to open 24 new branches nationwide. Of these, 11 were opened in the first half.

Of the company’s 210 branches, 40 percent are franchises, he said.

“We’re now more aggressive in expanding nationwide,” he said.

Being a wholly owned Jollibee subsidiary, he said Red Ribbon was able to take advantage of company synergies and economies of scale to bring down costs and make operations more efficient.