Under the terms of the agreement, both companies plan to jointly open the first store at Megamall in Manila, the capital of the Philippines, in April next year. (image: Wikipedia)
SEOUL, Nov. 4 (Korea Bizwire) – Mr. Pizza plans to enter the Philippine’s dining market, following China and the United States.
MPK Group, the owner of the renowned pizza franchise, announced on November 2 that it signed an agreement with WCGC on October 30. WCGC is a large Filipino dining company, running a lot of popular brands such as BreadTalk, The Coffee Bean and Tea Leaf, and Banana Leaf.
Under the terms of the agreement, both companies plan to jointly open the first store at Megamall in Manila, the capital of the Philippines, in April next year. Ninety-nine more stores will be launched by 2019.
The expansion in the Philippines seems to correspond with the recent trend of Filipinos’ eating habit. According to a report published by Nielsen, an increasing number of Filipinos are likely to dine out. The number of those who eat out more than once a week almost doubled to 25 percent in 2013 from 14 percent in 2012.
Earlier, the Korea’s dining company softly landed on the Chinese market. In accordance with Chinese people’s concerns for food hygiene, an open kitchen in a store shows every process of making pizzas, which gains huge popularity among Chinese consumers. They even wait in long lines to have a taste of its pizzas.
In 2013, the food service company launched its third store in Los Angeles in the U.S. It is located in the downtown’s Korean garment district (a.k.a. the Jobber Market). It follows the first shop called Mr. Pizza Wilshire and the second one Mr. Pizza Little Tokyo. Mr. Pizza Wilshire was selected as the best pizza store by the Zagat Survey for four consecutive years from 2009 to 2012.
By Veronica Huh (veronicah@koreabizwire.com)
