Prince invests P10 million for hotel, resto showroom

The upbeat hotel and restaurant business in Cebu prompted retail chain Prince Warehouse Club Inc., (PWCI) to invest P10 million for a hotel and restaurant showroom at its main store located at the Cebu North Reclamation Area.

"Tourism is still the very 'in' thing in Cebu. Everybody is still bullish in the tourism trade. We noted a strong demand for hotel and restaurant furnishings, including catering, thus we expanded our inventories servicing in these sectors," said PWCI president and chief executive officer (CEO) Robert L. Go.

With the changing attitude of diners and tourists, hotels/resorts as well as restaurants are requiring high-end wares, a various styles of serving wares fit for different occasions, type of beverage, among others.

In serving beverages alone, there are over a thousand classes of glasses that are used in different occasions, different beverage type. This has already become a requirement for restaurant and hotel operators as consumers have become more sophisticated now.

PWRI recently opened its 180 square-meter Prince Hotel and Restaurant Showroom, which is targeted for hotel/resorts, restaurants and food catering operators that mostly need volumes of supplies with specified designs for plates, glasses, wine glasses, chafing dish, among others.

According to Go, the buying attitude of tourism-related establishments now have changed significantly, they already have specific requirement for volumes of products they need. Thus, the company has spent considerable investment to take advantage of this demand.

"You see, despite the depressed economic outlook in the global market, including the Philippines. In Cebu, there are a lot of new restaurants that recently opened, and others are still planning to open. More hotels too will be opened in the next few months, or years," Go said.

Unlike before, that most hotels and restaurant operators had to travel abroad or in Manila to get big volumes of their food and beverage ware requirements, Go said this time, PWCI will offer a diverse choices of this need.

Prince Warehouse Club chain of department stores is located in strategic areas in Metro Cebu. It also has outlets in Ormoc, Bohol, Samar and Leyte.

According to Go, the newly opened showroom will not only cater to the growing bulk consumers within Cebu province, as even those restaurant operators from Manila, have started to get inventories from the store, he said.

Also, he said the showroom have also gained popularity from out-of-town markets, such as hotels and restaurant operators from Camotes, Bohol, Dumaguete, Iligan, among others.

PWCI is sourcing its products for the showroom in different countries, for porcelain for instance, the company is getting its bulk order from China, Go said.

Although he said that retail business in Cebus is still projected to reap little growth, while consumers are adopting belt-tightening measure, PWCI is going to strengthen its niche as the warehouse-type shopping destination, especially in the food and beverage ware requirements.