Shakey’s returns to profitability

MANILA, Philippines — Shakey’s Pizza Asia Ventures Inc., the listed full-service restaurant chain, returned to profitability in 2021, posting higher systemwide sales and reversing its 2020 net loss.

All business units reported a positive bottom line for 2021, resulting in an unaudited net income of P121 million for Shakey’s. The latest figure was also a  reversal of the net loss of P254 million reported in 2020.

Systemwide sales last year reached P7.01 billion, a growth of six percent versus the same period in 2020.

Vicente Gregorio, Shakey’s president and CEO, said the fourth quarter was significant as quarantine restrictions eased.

“Despite the crisis in 2020, we maintained our long-term view on sustainable growth. We made a bold decision to re-ignite our expansion plan, purposefully investing in our brands and our stores. We believe that these continuous investments amidst the pandemic will fuel our 2021 growth momentum toward a stronger 2022 reopening play,” Gregorio said.

Despite the challenging environment, Shakey’s grew its store network in 2021, reaching 316 with the addition of 37 outlets.

With this expansion, the company has more than doubled the number of its Peri-Peri outlets since the brand’s acquisition in June 2019. Shakey’s has also built two stand-alone stores for its R&B milk tea franchise in Metro Manila. At the end of 2021, the company also re-launched artisan pizza concept Project Pie, a build-your-own pizza restaurant originally introduced in 2013.

For 2022, Shakey’s is allocating more than P650 million in capital expenditures, the bulk of which is allocated to the acceleration of its store network expansion.

The company is targeting to open at least 192 stores for the group, including 42 new stores for existing brands and 150 outlets for Potato Corner.

“The pandemic has brought a lot of challenges to our business, but we believe that crisis and opportunity are sides of the same coin.

Over the past two years, we have learned many lessons that allowed us to remain resilient, and we do not want any of these to go to waste. To ensure our continued relevance and vitality, we need to think and act differently – to evolve and adapt as circumstances arise. In doing so, not only do we prepare ourselves for short-term headwinds, but we also position ourselves to bounce back and beyond pre-COVID levels, creating lasting value for our guests and producing strong returns in the medium-term and long-term,” Gregorio said.