Carmen’s Best to open more Metro Manila branches

MANILA, Philippines — Homegrown ice cream brand Carmen’s Best is further expanding its footprint after opening its second physical store located in Pasay City to provide more experience-based offerings to customers.

Metro Pacific Agro Ventures Inc. president and CEO Jovy Hernandez said the opening of the store located in the Mall of Asia in Pasay City is a testament to what the Carmen’s Best Group wants to achieve.

“Not only are we producing 100 percent fresh milk based ice cream in the country, which we think is the best ice cream in the world, but we are committed to a fully integrated model,” Hernandez said.

The company’s first store is located at the Powerplant Mall in Makati City.

“We have our own farm. We take care of our own cows, the milk that we produce. We would like to extend that all the way to customer experiences such as this one. So it’s really fully integrated, and we are very hopeful that this new store will provide not only nourishment and enjoyment to Filipinos and families,” he added.

On the sidelines of the store’s opening, Hernandez affirmed to The STAR that there are more Carmen’s Best stores in the pipeline.

“This is our second [store] and I think there is a plan that we announced that the first flagship store we have in Rockwell be refreshed, to have the same look. And there are a lot more in the pipeline,” Hernandez said.

When asked on locations of future stores, Hernandez said these would be announced once finalized based on the company’s roadmap.

According to him, the areas the company is looking at are in Metro Manila, including Makati and Alabang.

“Our intent is to have more [stores],” he added.

According to Carmen’s Best Group founder Francisco Magsaysay, the new MOA store offers a more than double dining capacity than its 25-square meter store in Rockwell as it measures 50 square meters.

With currently only two stores operating, Magsaysay said sales from stores account just a small portion of the business, generating about 10 to 15 percent of the total.

Bulk of its sales, Magsaysay explained, still comes from business to business selling to groceries, airlines, and coffee shops, etc.

In June last year, Pangilinan-led Metro Pacific Investment Corp. (MPIC) entered into a strategic partnership with the Carmen’s Best Group in line with diversifying its investment portfolio to include the agriculture sector.

The Carmen’s Best Group integrated its assets into The Laguna Creamery Inc., of which the MPIC bought a 51 percent stake for P198 million.

The Carmen’s Best Group makes the premium brand Carmen’s Best Ice Cream and the locally pasteurized Holly’s Milk. It runs a cow farm in Bay, Laguna, where it sources 80 percent of its milk requirements for its dairy products.

MPIC said the transaction is being carried out pursuant to MPIC’s plan to diversify its investment portfolio to include the agricultural sector, adding that it presents a growth opportunity for the company.