Eight8ate Holdings Inc., the food and beverage (F&B) arm of the Udenna Group, is expanding its store network in 2024.
Eight8ate president and chief executive Joseph Garcia said its flagship brands Conti’s Bakeshop and Restaurant and Wendy’s Philippines would continue to build more stores, increasing its presence in Luzon market before expanding to the Visayas and Mindanao.
“Although for Conti’s, we are slowing down the expansion of new stores to focus on an ongoing store improvement campaign,” he said over the weekend.
Eight8ate said it would renovate eight stores for 2024. It plans to open six provincial branches, to end 2024 with 80 branches.
The company said it is spending an average of P3 million per store.
Garcia said the facelifting campaign for Conti’s is not necessarily a rebranding effort as “the improvements will be minimal since we are not touching the kitchen”.
He said Wendy’s would be actively pursuing expansion with 15 new branches this year, increasing the total number of stores to 90.
Eight8ate also operates Good Mood Food, an affordable food choices restaurant concept and the fast-rising coffee brand Better Coffee.
The company is exploring options for possible partnership with master franchisers overseas, after it concluded an extensive market research in the US.