TOBISTRO Foods Inc. (TFI), the operator of CoCo Fresh Tea & Juice in the Philippines, is eyeing to cap the year with five more stores given the domestic market’s strong demand for Taiwan’s favorite milk tea.
“By end of 2019, we’re looking at 40 stores in total,” TFI General Manager Larry Evans Tan told the BusinessMirror in an interview during the kickoff of their three-day CoCo Chill Camp event held at the Fashion Hall of SM Megamall in Ortigas on Tuesday.
Since it first opened in Eastwood back in 2015, CoCo now has 35 outlets nationwide. The upcoming branches in the pipeline will be located in Metro Manila, Cebu and Cavite. For next year, TFI plans to open 15 to 20 additional stores. The company is looking at other growth areas of Iloilo, Davao, Bicol, Bacolod, Subic, Bulacan and Cagayan de Oro.
Without divulging the exact amount of their investment, the top executive said the expansion aims to bring the brand closer to Filipinos because it really befits their taste and preference.
“We’re very confident with investing in bringing CoCo to the Philippines because we see that the brand is really something that really suits this market,” Tan said. “We’re doubling our stores every year, and that is because more and more people are asking for stores to be [near them]. So we’re trying to be as accessible as possible to our customers.”
CoCo is a top player in the Filipino milk-tea craze, thus making the country one of the strongest markets for the brand worldwide. In fact, one cup of it is sold every four minutes via delivery alone. Another proof of its market dominance is its recent People’s Choice Award for Favorite Milk Tea brand from Our Awesome Planet and World Food Expo Philippines.
For these reasons, TFI held the Camp for the first time to engage Filipinos. “We’ve seen how well CoCo was received by Filipinos. The CoCo Chill Camp is our way of showing our loyal fans and supporters that we feel their love. And so we want to give them back the happiness that our drinks have brought to their lives, by giving them an experience that’s uniquely created for them,” Tan said of the event, which is ongoing until September 19.