Pancake House allots P70M for new stores

The Lorenzo-owned restaurant chain Pancake House Inc. is setting aside P70 million this year for the continued expansion of its store network as it seeks to further boost income more than 50 percent by the end of 2008.

At the sidelines of the company’s stockholders’ meeting yesterday, Pancake House chairman and president Martin Lorenzo said the group is looking at building 23 to 25 stores for the year, about a third of which will be company owned while the rest will be franchised. Last year, it opened 20 new stores, bringing its total branch network to 138 as of end 2007.

Aside from its flagship Pancake House, the group also owns and operates Dencio’s, which specializes in Filipino grilled menu items; Teriyaki Boy, which offers Japanese cuisine; Singkit, which specializes in Chinese food for delivery; Sizzlin’ Pepper Steak; and its recently-acquired Le Coeur De France, a chain of French bakery shops.

But Lorenzo said the company is putting its planned acquisitions on hold this year amid the prevailing difficult business environment. “I don’t think now is the right time to acquire. We want to focus on further growing our existing businesses,” he said.

Nevertheless, Lorenzo expressed confidence the group can sustain its net income and sales growth this year with net earnings seen rising to nearly P100 million compared from P63 million in 2007, driven by new store openings.

Sales are likewise forecast to grow from P1.8 billion to P2.1 billion while system-wide sales are seen to increase as much as 24 percent to P2.6 billion.

From the 73 outlets as of end-2007, Pancake House is planning to expand its store network to 82 by yearend and is looking at other key cities and provinces like Bulacan, Baguio, Subic, Tagaytay, Laguna, Cagayan de Oro, Cebu and Davao.

Pancake House also intends to further beef up its presence overseas following the successful launch of its first branch in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. Plans are underway for the opening of three more outlets before the company opens for franchising to several interested parties.

For its Filipino-owned grill unit, Dencio’s intends to expand its branches to 35 from the existing 26 in the next two years.

Teriyaki Boy, currently the leading Japanese brand in the casual dining industry in the country, will expand its restaurant operations to 39 stores by end-2008 from 34 as of last year.