La Lola Churreria will soon open its first store in Singapore at Clarke Quay Central.
The Brazilian-inspired food-retailing concept is being brought to the city by MFT Group of the Philippines, in partnership with Bistronomia which opened the first La Lola store in the upmarket Manila Power Plant Mall at Rockwell.
The Clarke Quay site was chosen for its close proximity to the MRT and bus stations.
MFT Group chief marketing officer Chiqui Tan said the company chose Singapore because of locals’ dessert-driven palette and openness to new concepts.
A former employee of the Philippines’ SM group, Tan says she has been watching La Lola with interest for several years.
“We’ve been fans of the brand ever since they started. We thought it was genius that something so simple can be done so well. I saw the speed and the scale they grew the brand,” she said in an interview.
“La Lola churros are so global in flavour that [the concept] can be taken anywhere and will have a strong chance of succeeding,” she said.
The two companies are planning multiple outlets across Singapore and MFT Group is also actively looking for more food concepts to launch.
The MFT Group, a private equity investor, has already successfully taken Singaporean chain Salad Stop to Spain. And it plans to open branches of that brand in Vietnam soon.
