Potato Corner opens stores in China

MANILA, Philippines — Food kiosk Potato Corner has expanded its presence in China with the opening of stores in Guangzhou and Shenzhen.

The Department of Trade and Industry (DTI) said Potato Corner opened its first store in South China at the Comic City in Guangzhou last May.

Meanwhile, the Potato Corner Shenzhen outlet opened last June 6.

The DTI said a second outlet in Guangzhou is expected to be launched soon.

In the long term, the DTI said Potato Corner aims to open stores in every major city in China.

Amber Xia, who holds the Potato Corner franchise at Comic City with Qiu Jiedong, said the flavored french fries brand has become very popular especially among young professionals and children in China through Chinese social media platforms such as Douyin, Xiaohongshu, and Weibo.

Potato Corner’s expansion has been undertaken mostly through franchising.

Philippine Consul General to Guangzhou Marshall Louis Alferez recently visited the Guangzhou outlet and encouraged Xia to explore other Filipino food franchises as many of these businesses have been successful in their expansion overseas and continue to grow.

For his part, Allan Liu, senior trade and investment consultant of the Philippine Trade and Investment Center (PTIC) in Guangzhou said the DTI’s office in South China “will continue to assist the franchise with what they need for business expansion.”

The DTI provided commercial and comparative information to the headquarters of Potato Corner in choosing locations for the outlets after the technical team reached out to its office in Guangzhou last year.

Even with the pandemic, the Philippine Consulate General in Guangzhou and PTIC-Guangzhou worked with the Philippine Franchise Association to help Filipino franchises like Potato Corner expand particularly, in South China.

Potato Corner opened its first outlet in the Philippines in 1992, and started franchising the following year.

At present, it has stores in malls, schools, hospitals, bus stations, amusement parks, and tourist destinations in various countries.