Koufu expands two of its tea brands to the Philippines via franchise

KOUFU Group wants to expand its Supertea and R&B Tea brands to the Philippines, and has given the Philippine-listed F&B group Shakey's Pizza Asia Ventures the rights to retail them under a master franchise agreement. 

"We have carefully considered the market trends and found the conditions in the Philippines to be favourable; there has been a growing receptiveness towards the bubble tea culture in recent years," said Pang Lim, the mainboard-listed group's executive chairman and chief executive officer.

Manila will be Koufu's starting point in the Philippines, he added. 

Under the master franchise agreement, Shakey's will have the rights to retail the brands for seven years.

Shakey's intends to adopt a "co-branding" strategy to sell selected R&B Tea drinks at its Shakey's and Peri Peri stores in the first year of business. Subsequently, it will open at least five self-operated, stand-alone R&B Tea outlets, said Koufu's announcement.

In addition, the master franchisee has the rights to sub-franchise R&B Tea to sub-franchisees within the seven-year term.

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Koufu will collect franchise fees, royalties and marketing fees under the agreement.

Mr Pang said the group adopts "stringent" criteria in selecting its strategic partners, such as "deep F&B experience in the local market", to ensure the success of expansion.

"Shakey's is one of the largest F&B players in the Philippines, well-established in its systems and processes," he noted. 

Shares of Koufu closed down 0.74 per cent at S$0.675 on Monday before the announcement.