Fruitas Holdings Inc. on Monday said it will acquire CocoDelivery as it ramps up its own delivery channel to serve its fresh products to local consumers.
CocoDelivery, initially launched in October 2018, currently delivers fresh coconut water supplied by Fruitas Group Inc.
Under its ownership, CocoDelivery’s hotline will expand to be the single delivery hotline of the company’s full product range.
This will include Fruitas fresh fruit juices, Buko Loco, Soy & Bean soy products, De Original Jamaican patties, Sabroso Lechon, among others.
Filipinos are quickly adopting on-demand food delivery services, it said.
“We look forward to #8COCO [Dial #82626] being the default contact number for Filipinos to order fresh and healthy products for themselves, family and friends. The objective of this acquisition is to deliver products which will nourish our customers’ overall wellness at the convenience of their own homes, place of work or any desired location,” said Fruitas President and CEO Lester Yu.
The delivery channel, including its current partnerships with CocoDelivery and Grab, and Sabroso’s own delivery service, currently accounts for a high single digit percentage of the company’s total sales, and it said it intends for this to increase even further.
“[The company] expects to immediately realize synergies from this acquisition, maximizing the utilization of the combined motorcycle fleet of Fruitas and CocoDelivery, and consolidating the marketing of Fruitas’s delivery service,” the company said.
Selected stores within its more than 1,000-strong network will also serve as hubs for fulfilling delivery orders. It said the company will leverage its years of logistics experience from the delivery of both raw and finished materials to its own and franchised stores nationwide.
From a single Fruitas stall opened in 2002, the group ended 2019 with 1,068 stores across the country and over 20 brands in its portfolio. This portfolio includes Fruitas Fresh from Babot’s Farm, Buko Loco, Buko ni Fruitas, De Original Jamaican Pattie, Johnn Lemon, Juice Avenue, Black Pearl, Friends Fries, The Mango Farm, 7,107 Halo Halo Islands, Kuxina, Shou La Mien Hand-Pulled Noodles and Sabroso Lechon.