Food and beverage kiosk operator Fruitas Holdings Inc. on Wednesday said it opened its first franchised store in Dubai in the United Arab Emirates (UAE) under the Fruitas House of Desserts brand, which started operations on December 1.
“We are excited to bring Fruitas to Dubai. The Fruitas brand, with its suite of fresh and healthy products, is universal and exportable to a lot more territories outside the Philippines,” Lester Yu, the company’s president and CEO, said.
The first Fruitas overseas kiosk is located inside BurJuman, a prime shopping mall in Dubai. It offers several product lines such as fruit shakes, pearl shakes and milk tea, fresh fruit desserts, halo-halo and fresh lemonades. Fruitas offers fresh beverages and Filipino desserts to both locals and overseas Filipinos living in the city.
The company also said the expansion of its network in the Philippines “is back in earnest,” with about 60 kiosks and community stores in the pipeline.
The kiosk network expansion continues alongside the opening of more community stores, under the Babot’s Farm and Soy and Bean brands, which now number around 20 as of November and targeted to reach at least 30 by end of the year. The group plans to have 100 community stores in 2021 and sees this as a growth engine in the future.
Fruitas said it continues to reach more cities in Mindanao, as it recently opened its first kiosk in Koronadal and adding more kiosks in Butuan and Zamboanga City.
Fruitas earlier said it added its own premium dairy-based ice cream line and premium soy-based ice cream line to its product portfolio.
The ice cream lines will be carried under its flagship brand, Fruitas, for the dairy-based category and its emerging brand, Soy and Bean, for the soy-based category.
Both ice cream lines will be all-natural without preservatives and artificial flavoring, handcrafted and locally made in the Philippines. Fruitas Ice Cream will have eight flavors, while Soy and Bean Ice Cream will be lactose-free.
“Ice cream has long been the go-to dessert of Filipinos. Ice cream gives them comfort and reminds them of their childhood, family, and home. Recognizing this customer need, Fruitas came up with two new premium ice cream lines which will certainly make Filipinos happy, yet keep them healthy at the same time,” Yu said.
Both ice cream lines will be available in the shelves of Babot’s Farm and Soy and Bean stores in Metro Manila.