Bo's Coffee to keep prices unchanged even amid rising costs

Homegrown coffee chain Bo's Coffee is expected to keep its prices unchanged at least until the end of the year, even as consumer prices have grown at the fastest pace in over nine years.

"I don't want to contribute to inflation. I talked to a lot of businessmen, that's just like really an energy vampire," Bo's Coffee founder Steve Benitez said in an interview with GMA News Online.

Inflation in August hit 6.4 percent, the fastest in over nine years since it clocked in at 6.6 percent in March 2009.

"For sure, there will be an impact on the businesses, especially as Christmas time is just around the corner—supposedly our peak season, coming up," said Benitez.

"I definitely already feel some pinch in the market," he elaborated.

While prices will be kept unchanged this year, Benitez said the coffee chain will review prices next year to determine if a hike is warranted.

"There has to be a reason behind [increasing prices]. Everything has to make business sense," he said, noting that prices of raw materials have already gone up.

"All the other costs have gone up—logistics costs have gone up due to oil, labor has gone up, everything else has gone up. Electricity has gone up," he added.

With this, Benitez said the company is poised to register a single-digit growth in its revenues this year.

"For the full year, cause this year for us was a year of streamlining... so out top line this year is not a double-digit growth, we have a single digit growth, but our bottom line has improved," he said.

Despite this, Benitez said, the company is still on track to have over 200 stores by 2021, including at least three in Qatar.

"Focus is to grow locally and make sure that the Qatar project is going to be a successful one, so we have to grow locally and make Qatar successful," he said.

With Qatar hosting the FIFA Football World Cup, Benitez said the company could put up three additional stores on top of the three already on the table.

"[O]ur partner there is very bullish, so they're looking at six. What's on the table already and solidly in place, is three," he said. — BM, GMA News