Universal Robina Corp. is going full steam ahead in launching recently-acquired snack brand Griffin’s from New Zealand with plans to penetrate Hong Kong as a potential market next to Singapore.
URC executive vice president for branded consumer food group Cornelio Mapa Jr. said the company was confident of expanding the presence of Griffin’s products in Southeast Asia.
“We are currently looking for a site in Southeast Asia to produce this particular snack line. This can be done locally but as of the moment, we still don’t have the capacity,” Mapa said at the sidelines of a forum organized by KPMG R.G Manabat & Co. and the University of Asia and the Pacific.
“Currently, the products still come from New Zealand but hopefully we’ll [see] more of these products made from this part of the world,” he said.
The creation of a new line, he added, would cost the company several hundred millions of dollars.
The snack line’s launch in Southeast Asia that started in Singapore will reach Hong Kong in the next few months and the Philippines in the latter part of 2016.
URC is drawing up a completely-dynamic strategy to promote the products in Southeast Asia.
URC, Philippines’ leading snacks manufacturer, bought New Zealand-based Griffin’s for NZ$700 million (P26.48 billion).
The company said the acquisition would further strengthen its position as the foremost snack maker in the Southeast Asia. URC manufactures the famous Jack & Jill brand.
Its other recent acquisition was Calbee Potato Snacks of Japan and a joint venture to locally market lifestyle beverage B’lue, a product of French beverage maker Danone Asia Holdings Private Ltd. Calbee and B’lue are now available locally.
URC currently markets around 400 stock keeping units, the biggest in the Philippines compared with other local snack makers.
The company is the third biggest biscuit manufacturer in the Philippines, next to Monde Nissin Corp. and Republic Biscuit Corp. It is the biggest biscuit producer in Thailand.
It has presence in all 10 countries in Southeast Asia with operations in nine countries, with the exception of Laos.