HK based food franchise sees good market growth

With the city’s fast-paced adaptation to urban living as well as to a more health conscious lifestyle, Hong Kong’s largest snack food franchise remains hopeful to be able to attract more consumers in its Cebu operations.

Aji Ichiban was founded in 1993 and it has currently over 90 international locations. In Japanese, the word “Aji Ichiban” means “the best and superior,” said Choice Gourmet Trading’s Administration Manager Debbie Uy.

Currently, Aji Ichiban is considered as the leading confectionery retailer in Hong Kong with about 100 shops, over 700 staff, and a turnover of over 500 million Hong-Kong dollars.

The company sells more than 1,000 kinds of products under its brand which are composed of preserved fruits, snack chips, candies and other organic food items and confectioneries.

In the overseas markets, Aji Ichiban has more than 150 franchised shops with more than 800 staff covering China, Singapore, Philippines and the United States with stores in the Chinatowns of New York, Manhattan, Queens, Chicago, California, and Maryland.

Here in Cebu, Aji Ichiban’s franchise under Choice Gourmet Trading has two locations, one in Ayala and in SM.

Formerly, the company operated branches in Robinsons and in the Banilad Town Centre (BTC) but franchisees decided to close them down as the areas do not serve well the kind of market that the product caters to which is the high end market considering the high prices of their products. —Rhia de Pablo

The brand has several franchisees in the country but the company has been operating in Cebu since 2000 and has since then established a client base that has been avid patrons of their healthy food items.

Uy said that despite increases of basic commodities these days, they were still able to generate remarkable sales prospects in their two existing branches.

She added that as their market widens and as Cebu’s business landscape is changing accommodating more investments and opportunities, they are looking at expanding their business in the future. But so far, Uy said that they are still looking for a strategic location that will suit their high-end products to maintain their brand’s image.

“We are still currently focused in locations inside the malls because it has a captured market already. So if we can find a mall that will suit the market we are serving, we will definitely expand,” said Uy.

Over the years, Aji Ichiban has received accolades such as the “Hong Kong Top Brand”, the “Top Ten Business Maker Award” in 1999 and the “Superbrand” in 2003, 2004 and 2005 respectively.