Max’s brings Yellow Cab to Hawaii, Saudi

MANILA, Philippines - Max’s Group Inc., the country’s largest chain of full-service restaurants, will bring its pizza brand to two new markets abroad next year as it continues to bolster its network overseas.

In an interview during the listing of the company’s follow-on offer shares yesterday, Max’s Group president Ricardo Trota said the Yellow Cab brand is set to make its debut in Hawaii and Saudi Arabia next year.

Trota said the first Yellow Cab outlet in Saudi Arabia, which would open by the first quarter of 2015, is part of at least 15 branches scheduled to be put up in the kingdom in the coming years.

The Hawaii branch, meanwhile, will open “very soon after” the Saudi Arabia branch, he said.

“Yellow Cab is entering Saudi Arabia and Hawaii for the first time,” Trota said.

“The owner for Saudi Arabia has been in Manila plenty of times and has liked the Yellow Cab pizza. But the locations are not intended where the Filipino communities are. It’s going to be opened in the mainstream areas, competing with the mainstream pizza brand,” he added.

Yellow Cab is a Filipino-owned brand that offers New York-style pizza products. The brand has six outlets in Qatar to date.

“We’re expanding also our Yellow Cab in Qatar and hopefully we’re going to have an Abu Dhabi store,” Trota said.

Across all brands, Max’s Group will be opening a total of nine international outlets next year and 68 locally as part of its aggressive expansion plan.

Of the nine new stores abroad, two will be opened in US/Canada, two in Malaysia, and five in the Middle East.

“We’re very optimistic about the industry. We have a lot of development that’s going up not only in NCR but also in Southern Luzon, Visayas and Mindanao. We really feel that because the economy is trending upwards, it’s hitting the emerging middle class which where we are strategically situated. We see a lot more people with spending power,” Max’s Group director and chief finance officer Dave T. Fuentebella said.