Shakey's to bring R&B milk tea to the Philippines

Shakey's Pizza Asia Ventures Inc. on Tuesday said it has entered into a franchise agreement with Singapore's Koufu Group Ltd. to bring the R&B milk tea brand to the Philippines.

In a statement, Shakey's said it will be awarded the territorial rights to sell R&B milk tea, bubble tea, and other specialty tea drinks in the Philippines.

The drinks will be made available through stand-alone store formats, and co-branding in select Shakey's and Peri-Peri Charcoal Chicken outlets.

R&B is one of the milk tea and bubble tea players in Singapore, with over 1,000 outlets worldwide in areas such as China, Cambodia, Vietnam, Malaysia, and Indonesia.

Its operator, the Koufu Group Ltd., is a publicly-listed company which also operates and manages food courts and coffee shops in Singapore.

"We are pleased to bring the R&B milk tea experience to the Philippines, and we look forward to WOW-ing our guests with the brand's premium quality milk tea and bubble tea offerings," said Shakey's president and chief executive officer Vicente Gregorio.

"This co-branding initiative is likewise in line with our renewed focus on out-of-store consumption, enhancing sales thru these channels with minimal additional investment and maximizing the use of our existing assets," he added.

Shakey's is banking on the Philippines' growing milk tea and bubble tea market, with approximately 45 million Filipinos within the 15-39 age group, the typical market for the product.

"The beverage is one of the top-selling products for take-out and delivery, including via food aggregator platforms. It travels well like pizza - the quintessential delivery product," the company said.

For his part, Koufu executive chairman and chief executive officer Pang Lim said the partnership will open doors to bring in other beverage concept brands moving forward.

"We are excited to bring our high growth tea beverage concept brands to a new market, the Philippines, with Manila as our initial landing point," he said.

"We have carefully considered the market trends and found the conditions in the Philippines to be favorable, where there has been a growing receptiveness towards the bubble tea culture in recent years. We are confident that the locals will enjoy our R&B beverages, as do our customers in other markets," added Lim.—AOL, GMA News