Gardenia Bakeries poised for robust growth in 2016

GARDENIA Bakeries Philippines Inc. sees a more robust growth for its local business this year as total sales are expected to grow by about 25 percent to P5 billion, given growing opportunities to reach the countryside market.

In 2015, sales were estimated to have reached some P4 billion, Gardenia Bakeries president Simplicio P. Umali Jr. said in an interview with the Inquirer.

“The company sees a lot of opportunities to reach the countryside market in Luzon. Gardenia will exhaust extensive efforts to expand distribution outlets nationwide and make Gardenia available in most barangays in the country,” Umali said.

“It will also support expansion programs of different convenience stores and supermarket chains. The thrust of the company is to make the bread market grow through its efforts of increasing bread consumption by Filipino consumers,” he added.

According to Umali, the company’s new business segments, namely the community bakery and the “artisanal fast casual bakery,” are expected to start contributing significantly to Gardenia’s growth this year.

“The community bakery (Big Smile Bread Station) and artisanal business (Bakers Maison) of Gardenia are expected to contribute P250 to P300 million sales in 2016 as the company rolls out its initial franchise outlets. This is expected to go up P1 billion by 2017 as more stores will be opened,” Umali disclosed.

Through these new ventures, Gardenia is hoping to further cement its hold in the local market as these will enable the company to tap the growing P10 billion “unpackaged” bread market with these two new brands.

This particular bread segment referred to the artisanal breads sold in specialty bakeries and products sold in community neighborhood bakeries, while the packaged category refers to the individually packed, branded bread sold at supermarkets, groceries and convenience stores.

As for the packaged bread segment, Gardenia reportedly has more than 60 percent market share in Metro Manila, specifically in the supermarket and grocery category. On a national scale, the brand was estimated to account for about 50 percent of the total packaged bread segment.

Gardenia earlier said it had invested P300 million for this new venture, which would see the roll out of some 1,500 “Big Smile Bread Station” bakeries across the country, and about 200 “Bakers Maison” branches within the next several years.

Big Smile Bread Station is Gardenia’s first version of a neighborhood bakery chain, which offers classic Filipino bread favorites like pan de sal, ensaymada, pan de coco, kababayan, spanish bread and the like. Through Bakers Maison meanwhile, Gardenia is poised to capture a healthy share of the artisanal specialty segment. Bakers Maison is a specialist manufacturer of authentic French-style bread and pastries based in Australia operated under QAF Ltd., the same owner of Gardenia Philippines.

Meanwhile, Umali further disclosed that the company expects the opening of its more advanced, automated loaf plant in January 2016 to boost existing capacities by another 150,000 loaves per day. This, he said, should be sufficient to meet the expected bread market demand in the next few years.

Gardenia earlier said the completion of its P1-billion expansion will bring its total capacity to 450,000 loaves a day.