Philippine fastfood giant Jollibee Foods (JFC) and its partner Viet Thai International Joint Stock Company (VTI) have completed a key step in their plan to list their JV, SuperFoods Group, on Vietnam’s Stock Exchange.
This will adjust the shareholding in the Jollibee Vietnam JV company SuperFoods Group to 60 per cent JFC and 40 per cent VTI from the previous equal ownership. The step is in line with the partners’ agreement of November 18 to make SuperFoods a public company by July 2019.
SuperFoods is a wholly owned subsidiary of Jollibee’s JSF Investments and VTI, which has business mostly in Vietnam. It owns and runs the Highlands Coffee and Pho 24 brands, and is a franchisee of Hard Rock Cafe in Hong Kong, Macau and Vietnam.
SuperFoods Group aims to offer Asian consumers a quality coffee and cafe experience at affordable prices through its Highlands Coffee shops and packaged products, and plans to serve consumers in Asia and key cities internationally with quality and healthy Vietnamese food at affordable prices through Pho 24.
At the end of March, there were 180 Highlands Coffee outlets, 33 Pho 24 outlets and three Hard Rock Cafes.
Highlands Coffee serves Vietnamese coffee and light meals in trendy coffee shops, and it also sells packaged coffee through retail outlets. Pho 24 serves traditional Vietnamese dishes with rice noodles as its core products.
Over the next three years, the SuperFoods Group plans to open 485 stores, mostly in Vietnam. It also plans to expand the brands through franchising in other parts of Asia and in Australia.
Highlands Coffee has 164 stores in Vietnam and 16 in the Philippines, while Pho 24 has 16 stores in Vietnam, 13 in Indonesia, two in Cambodia and one each in Australia and Korea.
JFC says it will take the lead in capital-raising for the JV to help with its expansion plans, working with financial institutions in Vietnam and other parts of Asia.
SuperFoods generated system-wide sales of US$58 million last year, making it one of the fastest-growing businesses in the JFC Group. It grew by 46 per cent last year, with Highlands Coffee recording 73 per cent growth.
