The Bistro Group said Thursday it will continue its network expansion in 2023, after opening almost 40 stores in 2022 to end with 136 branches nationwide.
“After meeting the extraordinary challenges of the past two years, we aim to seize opportunities to thrive in the changing world of business,” Bistro Group president Jean Paul Manuud said in a statement.
The company said it lined-up expansion plans involving the opening of more branches of existing concepts and the introduction of new brands, both local and international. It said the company’s most aggressive growth yet was in 2022.
“2023 is primed for growth. In January alone, there will be multiple openings of Randy’s, Bulgogi Brothers, Olive Garden and Texas Roadhouse,” the company said.
It said Fogo de Chão, the internationally renowned experiential restaurant from Brazil known for the culinary art of churrasco with whom Bistro signed a development agreement last year, would be launched next year.
“We are also currently in talks with well-known international restaurant concepts in the fine and casual dining space that have expressed their interest in partnering with us to launch their brands in the country,” Manuud said.
“The F&B industry has displayed an admirable resilience, picking up where they left off pre-pandemic and forging ahead with expansion and thriving. That bodes well for us. What does it take to win? From surviving to thriving to winning… This is what businesses around the world aim to achieve in post-pandemic phase. The Bistro Group is no different,” he said.
“The key now is to avoid inertia, to continue to build on what we have done in the past, to move forward, using the learnings we gained from the chaos that disrupted the industry over the last two years,” Manuud said.
Manuud said human resource is crucial to the expansion. “The Bistro Group’s success is anchored, for the most part, on our people, from the management team down to our restaurant staff. Their skills and passion continue to propel our growth. Teamwork is an important part of our culture. It is our people and our customers who inspire to fulfill our mission,” he said.
He said they would expand brands that are scalable, whose business models can be replicated while maintaining quality and service. “We aim to stay on top of guest satisfaction ratings which extend beyond the four walls of our restaurants. We want to continue to be accessible to them through dine-in as well through delivery and take out services,” he said.
Bistro Group’s expansion stretches across various restaurant concepts—from American brands like TGIFridays, Denny’s, Italianni’s, Texas Roadhouse and Hard Rock Café to Asian brands Watami, Bulgogi Brothers and Modern Shang as well as the Spanish concepts like Las Flores.