Shakey's gets a slice of Middle East with opening of new Dubai store

MANILA, Philippines — Shakey’s Pizza Asia Ventures Inc. (SPAVI) on Tuesday announced it has opened its first store in Dubai as part of its plan to have a slice of Middle East market and take advantage of the region’s large Filipino population for future growth.

In a disclosure to the stock exchange, SPAVI said the new Shakey’s store located at Burjuman Mall in Dubai is the first for franchisee Aljeel Capital, a Dubai-based group that committed to open nine more stores in the United Arab Emirates over a span of five years.

According to SPAVI, everything on the menu is halal-certified, or prepared according to Islamic dietary rules, while Shakey’s trademark features and flavors were “meticulously kept intact.”

“We are excited to have more stores in the UAE, with our flagship Dubai restaurant finally open and with the overwhelming turnout we had during opening night,” Aljeel Chief Executive Officer Firas Hurieh said.

“We are proud to say that our store broke several Shakey’s records on that day – the highest total net sales during opening day and the largest number of pre-sold loyalty program ‘Supercards,’” he added.

SPAVI is the exclusive franchise holder of the Shakey's Pizza Restaurant business in the Philippines.

Shakey’s first opened in the Philippines in 1975. As of March 2018, SPAVI had a total of 212 stores locally.

The store in Dubai is the second international store for SPAVI, which owns the perpetual rights to the Shakey's brand for the Middle East, Asia (excluding Japan and Malaysia), China, Australia and Oceania.

“Dubai, UAE and the rest of the Middle East are great markets for us,” said Vic Gregorio, president and chief executive officer of SPAVI.

“Aside from the strong and welcoming Filipino communities which really love the Shakey’s brand and are excited about experiencing it away from home, PIZZA is also a Western concept with Western menu, thus giving us tremendous growth opportunities within the mainstream markets there,” Gregorio added.

As of 3:09 p.m., shares in SPAVI were up 4 centavos or 0.30 percent to P 13.28 apiece.