Venchi opens 1st Philippines store in BGC

MANILA, Philippines — Italian chocolatier and gelato maker Venchi is making its sweet arrival in the Philippines today with the opening of its first store in Bonifacio Global City (BGC) as it aims to tap into growing consumer demand.

The brand is expanding in the Philippines through specialty retailer SSI Group Inc., which holds the franchise for Venchi in the Philippines.

SSI president and CEO Anton Huang said in an interview yesterday that Venchi is starting its expansion by opening the first store at Central Square Mall in BGC today and another at The Podium in Ortigas Center within the year.

Venchi CEO for Asia-Pacific Marco Galimberti said the brand decided to enter the Philippine market to take advantage of the growing consumer demand in the country, which now hosts many global brands.

“The global brands, they started to come in more aggressively and more and more are coming. So I think overall with the development of the country, there is demand,” he said.

While he first met Huang in 2015, he said both felt they were not ready to bring Venchi to the Philippines then, as the brand had a very small team to serve Asia and the market conditions in the country were different.

Huang, who is a fan of Venchi particularly, the Pistachio chocolate and gelato, said the brand is extremely popular in the market, with many Filipino consumers anticipating the store opening, having tried the chocolates and gelato overseas.

“Just looking at their customer numbers in Singapore, for example, a healthy percentage of it is actually Filipino,” he said.

While there are plans to expand further in the country, he said there is no rush to do this as they need to find the right locations for Venchi, which is a premium concept.

Despite being a premium brand, Venchi’s products in the Philippines will be available at prices that are 10 to 15 percent lower than the rest of Southeast Asia.

“For countries where the brand is quite young, I think it’s fair to you know, start. We have space to increase prices in the future,” Galimberti said.

Founded in 1878, Venchi is known for crafting exceptional chocolates and gelato.

Venchi’s Philippine stores will be carrying its chocolate bars and over 12 flavors of its gelato.

Galimberti said the calamansi gelato flavor, which is unique to the Philippines, will be launched by summer of next year.