Aboitiz food unit to open two brick-and-mortar stores

MANILA  -The Aboitiz Group’s international food business Pilmico and Gold Coin Group is widening its presence by investing P20 million in two brick-and-mortar stores in the Philippines, according to a top executive.

The location of the planned stores, however, was not disclosed.

Currently, Pilmico, through its retail brand The Good Meat (TGM), supplies a variety of fresh cuts, marinated pork and ready-to-cook products to customers via physical and online stores.

The company has five standalone stores in Metro Manila and Batangas province, an increase from two branches a year ago. It also has 60 retail concessionaires in Luzon.

“We’re looking to move [the] concessionaire number from 68 up to about maybe 80 in 2023,” Pilmico president and chief executive officer Tristan Aboitiz told reporters.

Pilmico’s meat products are available in 305 stores nationwide. Of these, 298 are supermarkets such as Robinsons Supermarket, Puregold, Shopwise and Merrymart, while the remainder are convenience stores.

These are likewise offered via The Good Meat’s website and digital marketplaces including Lazada, Shopee, Metromart and Grab.

“Moving forward, we’re fairly comfortable at [the] 300 level as far as the supermarket or convenience store number goes,” he said.

“Outside of those, we do operate our own TGM stores and we do this for a number of reasons. One is to make [our meat products] available in neighboring communities and two, we also use these stores [as] staging points for delivery for our products that we sell through thegoodmeat.ph [and] Lazada,” he added.

Aboitiz said they started offering the opportunity to open up franchises as early as October last year.

The firm has already signed four franchisees, according to Aboitiz, saying each is looking to open one.

“Two of them have already opened, one in Taguig and one in Biñan in Laguna. There are two more that are looking to open, one in Quezon City and one in Nueva Ecija,” he said.

“This is something we’re looking to grow [at] a measured pace. We’re looking to add another six franchise stores by end-2023,” Aboitiz said. INQ

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