Fiorgelato eyes more stores

MANILA, Philippines - Milkin Corp., the company behind the Fiorgelato ice cream brand, plans to expand its presence in the country by opening five new stores before the end of the year.

“We want to have 65 stores by yearend locally,” Milkin president and chief executive officer Ricardo Cuna told reporters in a chance interview.

Currently, there are 60 Fiorgelato outlets in the country.

Fiorgelato serves ice cream made from imported ingredients from Italy.

Cuna said the firm wants to expand the Fiorgelato brand’s presence particularly in the provinces, as most of its stores are in Metro Manila.

He also said that by opening more stores, the firm wants to take advantage of strong consumption spending here as the economy continues to grow.

“There is a big market for ice cream, particularly from (class) C or the mass market,” he said.

Fiorgelato recently re-introduced to the market the Maynila ice cream brand given the demand for ice cream from the mass market.

Maynila ice cream sticks, which come in Filipino flavors like ube, queso, melon, chocolate and buco, were first introduced in the market 20 years ago.

The ice cream sticks are currently available at the Rizal Park in Manila.

Cuna said he would like to make Maynila ice cream available in more locations.

Fiorgelato is looking for distributors for the brand.

Established in 1989 under a Filipino-Italian business venture, Milkin was granted the exclusive rights from Italy to manufacture, sell and distribute Fiorgelato ice cream in the country.

Apart from the Philippines, Milkin has Fiorgelato stores in Japan and the US.