Fruitas acquires Fly Kitchen

MANILA  -Food and beverage kiosk operator Fruitas Holdings Inc. is expanding its cloud kitchen business by acquiring a company that has established footprint in the innovative restaurant space across Metro Manila.

In a statement on Thursday, the listed company announced the acquisition of Fly Kitchen Inc., which will be included under its own cloud kitchen arm Nube Kuxina. This involves the purchase of all the startup’s outstanding shares.

Fly Kitchen, which has developed a partnership with third-party food aggregators like Foodpanda and GrabFood, was founded in 2020 at the height of COVID-19 lockdowns.

A cloud kitchen is a restaurant that only services delivery or takeout meals and has no dine-in customers.

It has kitchen locations in Makati City, Pasig City, Mandaluyong City and Quezon City with combined cooking area of about 200 square meters. It caters to over 10 brands such as Hatid Pinoy, Jade Express and Kanin at Sabaw.

Homegrown brands

Fruitas aims to leverage Fly Kitchen in marketing its own brands such as Fruitas fresh juices, Ling Nam, Soy & Bean and Sabroso Lechon.

“The purchase of Fly Kitchen fits our strategic objective to remain competitive in the digital arena. The startup complements our present activities and will enable us to accelerate the growth of this new source of revenue and profit for Fruitas,” Fruitas president and CEO Lester Yu said.

“We are optimistic about the future of Fly Kitchen because many Filipinos have changed their eating habits. This will enable us to continue to reorient our company and strengthen our visibility online,” Yu added. INQ

READ: Fruitas sets up ‘cloud kitchen’ to expand reach