Pancake House goes into education
By Judith Balea, abs-cbnNEWS.com | 06/30/2009 7:03 PM
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MANILA - Casual dining company Pancake House Inc. plans to diversify into education while continuing to grow its core food chain business.
Apart from putting up additional outlets in the Philippines and abroad this year, Pancake House intends to build a school focusing on culinary arts and other business courses, its chairman and president Martin Lorenzo disclosed at the sidelines of the company's annual meeting on Tuesday.
The company's first school, which will open in Makati in January 2010, will be called the Institute of Culinary Arts and Food Services and will serve as a training ground for prospective Pancake House employees and a "springboard" for students who want to work abroad.
The new school will be able to accommodate 200 to 250 students and will offer short courses on culinary arts, business administration and hotel and restaurant management, among others.
In three years, Lorenzo said they are eyeing to put up branches of the school in Cebu and Davao, where they intend to expand the Pancake House chain aggressively.
He added they are spending P40 to P50 million for the construction of the first school. This is not included in the P150 million budget Pancake House has set for the opening of new stores, expansion of commissary and renovation of its head office this year.
Pancake House, which is known for its pancakes and waffles, expects to end 2009 with 76 stores while its other brands, Le Coeur de France and Sizzling Pepper and Steak, with 25 and 19, respectively. Pancake House also owns Japanese restaurant Teriyaki Boy and Filipino food chains Dencio's and Kabisera.
The company is also upbeat about expansion overseas. It is looking to put up stores in Indonesia and Thailand as well as increase its Pancake House stores in Malaysia from the current 2 to 5.
Meanwhile, Lorenzo expressed excitement over Pancake House's store opening in Boracay this July, saying they see a lot of potential in the country's booming tourism industry.
Lorenzo said they also expect to make their presence felt in the provinces by serving as anchor tenant to the planned budget hotel chain of Henry Sy-led SM Investments Corp. He noted that SM will put up budget hotels under the brand "SM Casa" in 14 key areas nationwide, with Bacolod City as pioneer site.
The Pancake House Group is banking on the start of election spending to boost its profits towards the end of the year, with its sales seen to grow 10 to 15 percent in 2009, according to Lorenzo.
But under the worst case scenario--if the economic slump deepens and consumers further rein in spending--the group may post a flat growth in sales this year, Lorenzo said.
"Consumers still come to our stores but they spend less than before," he said. "That's why we're hoping sales will bolstered by election spending."
During the first quarter of the year, Pancake House posted a net profit of P10.46 million, down 25 percent from P13.95 million a year ago, as fewer people visited their outlets amid tough economic conditions.
The company's revenues also fell 4.7 percent to P436.62 million.
Lorenzo noted, however, that their financial results have improved this quarter.
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