SIX FRANCHISE brands participating in the Franchising & Business Opportunities Expo in Melbourne booked P750 million in firm deals, according to the Philippine Franchise Association (PFA).
“We were able to hit P750 million in terms of closed deals, just for the six brands alone,” according to Sherill R. Quintana, chair of the council of past presidents of the PFA.
She was speaking on the sidelines of the Franchise Asia Philippines 2024 International Franchise Conference on Monday.
The companies that joined the Melbourne expo were Avocadoria, Bench, Cabalen, Miguelitos Ice Cream, Oryspa, and Shawarma Shack, which all have international operations.
“Majority of them are food concepts … leveraging Melbourne being a culinary capital, where the people are into a lot of very curated food concepts,” she said.
The PFA is seeking the government’s support in helping franchise brands go international.
“(We support creating) more global Filipino brands. So far, only about 1% or 1.5% of franchise brands have an international presence,” PFA Chairman Chris Lim said.
“But slowly, with more investment … we want to accelerate that,” he added.
He said that franchise brands from Thailand and Malaysia have been very aggressive in joining international trade shows.
“They bring in big delegations. And that’s partly supported not only financially but as well as connection-wise by their government,” he said.
“So that is something that we’d love to continue working on with the Department of Trade and Industry and with all the PTICs (Philippine Trade and Investment Centers) to help more of our brands go international,” he added.
Ms. Quintana said that PFA brands will also be joining the Fine Food Australia Expo set to take place on Sept. 2-5 at the Melbourne Convention and Exhibition Center. — Justine Irish D. Tabile