Pancake House checks pulse of existing brands

Listed Pancake House Inc. is currently assessing the condition of its existing brands as the company believes that some have been underperforming, citing the tighter competition in the country’s casual dining segment, its top executive said Tuesday.

According to Pancake House Group president and chief executive Robert F. Trota, while the performance of flagship brand Pancake House and pizza chain Yellow Cab has been “very strong,” the group’s eight other brands—Dencio’s, Kabisera ng Dencio’s, Le Coeur de France, Maple, Singkit, Sizzlin’ Pepper Steak, Teriyaki Boy, and The Chicken Rice Shop—have not been doing “as well as we hope.”

Trota told reporters that, although the group would “not kill any brand,” the next three to six months would be spent on assessing “if we need to close stores … renovate, relocate, or reassign stores to other brands.”

The executive noted that competition has further intensified in the casual dining restaurant market amid “a lot of entrants,” both homegrown concepts and foreign brands alike.

The restructuring of existing branches would start by the third quarter, while expansion of the two top-selling brands would continue mostly in available retail spaces, Trota said.

As of end-March this year, Pancake House Group has a total of 310 stores, with combined store sales of P778.20 million during the first quarter, up 4.5 percent from the P744.38 million registered in the first three months of last year.

First quarter consolidated revenues grew by 4.8 percent to P926.7 million from P884.2 million last year, but net income slid to P29.7 million in the same three-month period from P40.6 million last year.

Trota said the company already spent P30 million in capital expenditures in the first quarter to upgrade stores.