Angel’s Pizza in talks for expansion abroad

MANILA, Philippines — Angel’s Pizza, the popular pizza chain of the Figaro Coffee Group Inc. (FCG), plans to eventually spread its wings abroad while also ramping up its bid to become the country’s number one pizza brand.

“It is not in our immediate goal at the moment, but something we hope to achieve in the future,” FCG chairman Justin Liu told The STAR regarding Angel’s Pizza potential international venture.

Asked on FCG’s expansion of its brands abroad, Liu in an earlier interview said the group is focusing more on the potential international expansion of Angel’s Pizza.

“We’re talking to several parties right now but there’s nothing definite yet, but still in negotiations,” he said.

He said the target is to start the international expansion of Angel’s Pizza in Asia.

In the country, Liu hopes to make Angel’s Pizza the country’s number one pizza brand within the next five years in terms of customer preference and store count.

“We have still about less than 130 stores while our major competitors have over 300 stores. So we are still lacking in store count in Visayas and Mindanao so that’s why we are still continuing to expand in these areas,” he said.

Liu said Angel’s Pizza’s expansion into the provinces could also become a base for the future expansion of other brands under FCG.

FCG, through subsidiary Figaro Coffee Systems Inc., operates and franchises a network of retail restaurants that include Figaro Coffee, Angel’s Pizza, Tien Ma’s and Café Portofino.

“I hope we can open 300, maybe 400 stores of Angel’s Pizza in the Philippines eventually. I dream that we can be the number one pizza player here. I’m not sure how difficult that will be but we will try our best,” Liu said.

“It’s very challenging because our competitors of course are larger than us, even heavier capitalized than us. It’s a very competitive market,” he said.

Liu considers Shakey’s, S&R and Pizza Hut as Angel’s Pizza’s direct competitors at the moment.

“But we are being compared to Greenwich a lot also now in the provinces. That’s why we also need to evolve our menus and our pricing points which we are working on,” he said.

FCG operates 207 stores across all its brands, more than half or 128 of which are Angel’s Pizza outlets.