Julie's Bakeshop targets overseas expansion, to open store in Jakarta

Homegrown bakery chain Julie's Bakeshop is set to open an outlet in Indonesia next month, the first step in an overseas expansion that is part of the company's growth plans for the next five years, a company official said Thursday.

Julie's Bakeshop will open an outlet that's "a bit upscale" in Tangerang, a city near Jakarta, in August, Julie's Franchise Corporation general manager Arturo C. Zamora told reporters on the sidelines of the 12th League of Corporate Foundations CSR Expo in Pasay City.

Zamora said the company chose to expand in Indonesia due to the size of its population, its proximity to the Philippines, and the availability of a partner, having formed a joint venture agreement with a Filipino-Indonesian company.

The company will be focusing on halal bread products in Indonesia, which is a predominantly Muslim country.

The company also aims to double the number of its stores in the next five years by expanding locally to 1,000 outlets.

According to Zamora, Julie's Bakeshop has 500 outlets nationwide—including more than 200 in Visayas and more than 100 each in Luzon and Mindanao—with system-wide sales revenues of P3 billion as of 2012.

"We're still actively expanding through franchise. About 99 percent of our stores are franchised," he said.

"Right now, company-owned stores are very small. We're just starting to put up company-owned, which is at seven branches scattered all over the country, and we want to grow that."

Zamora said the company is planning to expand to more areas in Mindanao and Luzon.

It will also be launching new products containing meat to add to its more than 500 bread products.

For this year, Zamora said, sales are flat on stiff competition in the affordable bakery business. Moreover, he added, the effect of election spending in the May was "not as huge as in previous elections." — BM, GMA News