By Justine Irish D. Tabile, Reporter
ITALY’s Venchi Chocogelateria opened in Central Square in Bonifacio High Street on Tuesday, with its officials estimating that the Philippine market can sustain two store openings a year.
“The next is Podium in Ortigas, which is going to open in the second week of December… For next year, I think the team is already looking into a few options,” Venchi Asia-Pacific Chief Executive Officer Marco Galimberti told BusinessWorld in an interview on Monday.
“But we take it cautiously. We want to get only the top and right locations, and we need to be careful where and when we open. And we also need to get the business stable. So … two openings a year, I think, will be a good pace,” he added.
Venchi currently operates in Japan, Taiwan, China, Hong Kong, Macau, Singapore, Malaysia, Indonesia, and Australia.
The brand’s expansion was pursued in partnership with SSI Group, Inc.
“I think if you aim to be a global brand, (the Philippines) is a market that you need to address. It’s a market that has grown (as reflected in) the growth of SSI,” Mr. Galimberti said, noting the expansion of other international brands in the Philippines.
“The country is growing, so it’s just about the right time. The brand has grown outside of the Philippines, so there is a strong following of Filipinos living in Singapore and traveling to Singapore and Hong Kong,” he added.
SSI President and Chief Executive Officer Anton T. Huang said Venchi is currently positioned for the upper middle class segment.
“That is very aligned with the customer base that we, in the Rustans or SSI group, have catered to for the past 70 odd years. And that is the customer base we know best,” he added.
Nevertheless, Mr. Galimberti said Venchi products will tend to be 10-15% cheaper in the Philippines to make them more accessible.
“We have two-tier price segmentation in Asia. It depends a lot on what your P&L (profit and loss) and margin allow you to do,” he said.
“In some countries, salaries are very high and the cost of capital is very high, so sometimes you are obliged a little bit to stay on the high end. In some countries, they actually, because the costs are more flexible, allow you to be more competitive,” he added.
Mr. Huang said Venchi is expected to capture a large slice of the Philippine market.
“I think it will do very, very well,” he said.
“There’s a large market for the brand here. There’s an opportunity to even expand the target market that we cater to. And I believe that being here in BGC is really the right first location for us,” he added.
SSI is partners with other food and beverage brands such as Shake Shack, SaladStop!, and HeyBo.
The brand will not carry its entire product line in the Central Square branch, though it will offer 12 flavors of freshly-made gelato to choose from, and will add local flavors at some point.
