Coffee shops unveil new prospects for Waterfront

CEBU, Philippines - The growing number of coffee shops around Cebu has paved way for better business prospects for the Waterfront Food Concepts Inc., a cakes and pastries distributor arm of the Waterfront Philippines Inc., (WPI).

WFCI president Marco Protacio said the company has enjoyed at least 20 percent increase of its business, while more institutional clients aside from coffee shops are now getting bulk orders from the company.

From providing bulk order for cakes, pastries and sandwiches mostly to coffee shops, the company is now expanding its distribution network to include airline catering, and providing “pack-lunches” packages to other institutional clients.

This company is solely created to oversee and perfect the operations of all food and beverage outlets of the hotels.

Incorporated on January 26, 2004, part of its essential responsibility is to improve individual brand equities. The dream of this company is to establish new brand names and restaurant concepts in other places in the Philippines and soon in Asia.

According to Protacio, WFCI has started to distribute pastries, cakes, and sandwiches to a coffee shop in Bohol, this is expected to mark the company’s out-of-town distribution network.

Waterfront’s subsidiaries include Waterfront Promotions Ltd., Waterfront Entertainment Corp., Mayo Bonanza, Inc., Grand Ilocandia Resort Development, Inc., Waterfront Food Concepts, Inc., Waterfront Management Corp., and W Citigyms and Wellness, Inc.

Protacio said the company has also expanded its food distribution service, to the growing number of Business Process Outsourcing (BPO) companies, especially call centers.

He said there is a good prospect for food outsourcing business, especially providing bulk orders from coffee shops, airline companies, BPO firms, among others.

Earlier, Waterfront Cebu City Hotel and Casino announced that it will embark into a multi-million-peso renovation program starting in the third quarter this year.

In 2007 WPI reported a 791.6 percent increase of its overall net performance in at P162.65 million over the P18.24 million in 2006.

Hotel operations continue to be the main driver of the company's growth. It generated revenue totaling to almost P1.89 billion, contributing 96 percent of the company's total income, in the same year.—Edha Dagooc