Fruitas puts up processing line in Cebu

MANILA, Philippines — Fruitas Holdings Inc., the listed food and beverage kiosk chain, is expanding in the Visayas with the establishment of a processing line in Cebu.

The commissary marks the beginning of an aggressive expansion of Fruitas community stores and e-commerce hubs in the Visayas, said Fruitas president and CEO Lester Yu.

This will complement the existing production facilities in Metro Manila.

Fruitas will be opening more community stores to widen its distribution channels and sustain recovery even as new protocols may emerge because of the Delta variant.

At present, Fruitas now has 74 community stores and is on track to reach 100 stores by the end of the year.

Fruitas recognizes that many of its mall-based locations will take time to fully recover, thus, it is increasing its stand alone community stores.

Community stores bring the products closer to high-density residential communities, Yu said.

Fruitas recently opened community stores along Sumulong Highway in Antipolo City and Aguirre Avenue in Parañaque City.

“Standing with all Filipinos, we hope and pray that our country is able to avoid the resurgence of the COVID-19 outbreak that is now gravely affecting some of our regional neighbors,” Yu said.

Fruitas is confident its business will sustain its 2021 recovery momentum.

“The pandemic forced us out of our comfort zone. But we have quickly regrouped. We are continuing to transform Fruitas by relying on our strengths of being nimble, of building brands, and by maximizing the efficiency of our resources and facilities,” Yu said.

Fruits also expanded its online presence, not only through its CocoDelivery service and own website, but also through its major delivery and online partners.

Since the beginning of 2020, Fruitas has widened its product suite to include a complete soy line, dairy line and bread products through its recent acquisition of Balai Pandesal bakery.

Fruitas is also taking advantage of its own in-house manufacturing capabilities to offer different packaging to allow customers to consume more Fruitas products at home.

These include offering frozen Jamaican Patties and SHOU dimsum products, and Sabroso Lechon ready-to-heat viands.