From adobo to sushi, Family Mart offers P25 to P129 quick meals

People rushing for quick yet good, hot meals now have more fresh choices. The world’s second biggest convenience store chain, Family Mart of Japan, is opening 40 stores this year and bringing a wide range of fresh good-quality food options to Philippine consumers 24 hours daily. It is a new joint venture of Stores Specialists, Inc. (SSI) and  Ayala Land, Inc. with Japanese firms Itochu Corp. and Family Mart Co.

Apart from Filipino meals like chicken adobo rice, pork tocino and egg rice, corned beef and egg rice, pancit canton and pancit Malabon, Family Mart Philippines will offer ready-made Japanese favorites like chicken teriyaki roll, California maki, katsudon, sushi tray, cold noodles, omu rice (omelet fried rice), cha soba, kani maki triangle sandwich, kani salad, orinigi tuna mayo, plus diverse other choices like ham and cheese croissant, different kinds of donuts, chicken Caesar with Parmesan cheese sandwich and more.

Bobby Dy, executive vice president of Ayala Land, Inc., says, “We see big opportunities in the Philippines with increased incomes creating a larger middle-class. On top of that, Family Mart stores will complement our mixed-use developments, so having Family Mart will help be a differentiator. One key factor to being successful in this business is scale, so we will not limit Family Mart stores only to Ayala locations.”

Anton Tantoco Huang, executive vice president of Stores Specialists, Inc., says, “On the part of SSI, we’re always on the lookout for new service formats to broaden our customer base, and now is the best time to do so due to the fantastic economic performance of the Philippines. Another reason is demographics, we have one of the youngest populations in the region. We got to know Family Mart of Japan through our cousin Donnie Tantoco.”

Eduardo N. Paredes Jr., general manager of Family Mart in the Philippines, says, “The high-quality, fresh food items have selling prices ranging from P29  to P125 each.”

Dez B. Cruz, head of food and service retail of Ayala-owned Varejo Corporation, says, “There will be big dining areas at Family Mart stores, it’s not just convenience stores. Family Mart will offer good food due to the increased demand for ready-to-go food because of the booming Business Process Outsourcing (BPO) industry, also the fast-paced lifestyle of people in our society. Our prices are affordable at Family Mart. For ready-to-eat meals, we have as low as P29 for the hotdogs, P35 for the pandesal, up to P125 for the katsudon. We are at par with other convenience stores in our basic foods, but with better quality and portioning, and we offer a wider selection of food items with pricing lower than the fast-food chains.”

Chef J Gamboa of Tsukiji, Cirkulo and Azuthai restaurants is the in-house chef of Family Mart in the Philippines. He says, “I helped research the different food choices for Family Mart  because we want to help make the foods here at par with the Family Mart stores in Japan.”

Apart from the refreshing array of food items for sale, Family Mart will sell newspapers, magazines, snack items, breads, milk, soft drinks, tobacco products, Japanese products, fruit juices and a limited number of grocery items like cleaning supplies, paper products and personal hygiene essentials.

Corazon G. Dizon, vice president for business development and strategic planning of Ayala Land, says, “We will open 40 Family Mart stores this year and 300 stores in the next five years.”

Paredes, adds that Family Mart hopes to have “a minimum of 900 stores in the Philippines in 10 years.”

The Philippines is the newest market for Family Mart chain, which now has branches in Japan, China, South Korea, United States, Thailand, Vietnam, Indonesia and Taiwan.

Masachika Koizumi, general manager of Family Mart International Business Development, says, “Japan already has more than 50,000 convenience stores nationwide, including the rivals of Family Mart. It’s simply too much, so we need to expand overseas. Here in the Philippines, there are only 1,000-plus stores. Also, the Philippines has big potential as a market because you have the 12th biggest population in the world and the average age is 23 years old based on our research. You also have a steadily growing economy and increasing incomes. These are some of the reasons why we are bullish about Family Mart in the Philippines.”

Taro Kosaki, manager of Family Mart International Business Department, says, “Whatever items we sell at Family Mart in the Philippines, especially the ready-made meals, will be of good quality and the best in freshness.”

The first store of Family Mart in the Philippines opened early this month at Glorietta 3 in Makati City. The next branches will be located at Ayala MRT Station, Glorietta 5 and De La Rosa Carpark 1.

Huang of SSI said that Family Mart in the Philippines will be open for franchising next year and that they have already received a lot of inquiries.

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