Udenna Group’s food arm Eight8Ate eyes expanding its brands Wendy’s and Conti’s store network to 200 this year, an official said on Wednesday.
Eight8Ate could hit 200 combined stores this year, after aggressively growing to over 160 branches during the COVID-19 pandemic, company President Joey Garcia said on the sidelines of the media launch for Franchise Asia, a conference and expo for franchising set for June and October.
Of the total stores, only 9 are franchisees. Garcia said. Eight8Ate is expanding through company-owned stores to establish a strong base before they pursue expansion through franchising, he added.
“We doubled (in) size,” Garcia said.
Apart from Wendy’s and Conti’s Eight8ate also owns Masuma, an enterprise focused on providing services to other food businesses. It caters to clients like WalterMart and Family Mart.
Udenna acquired Conti’s and Wendy’s in 2018 and 2019, respectively, as part of a rapid, debt-fueled expansion.
