Max’s Group Looking to Venture Into Cloud Kitchen Operations Along with Food Manufacturing

Max’s Group Inc., the Philippines’ largest casual dining operator is now pushing for more operations in their food manufacturing business. Brought about by the COVID-19 pandemic, the company is also looking to venture into the cloud kitchen setup on top of offering pre-mixes and ready-to-cook meals.

MGI’s supply chain management director Robeson Mateo says the company’s No Bia Food Manufacturing and Distribution Center, a two-hectare site in Carmona, Cavite, also has the capacity to serve other food manufacturing needs of companies outside of Max’s Group. The food manufacturing and distribution center has folded the company’s previous three commissaries into one and can produce about 2,000 metric tonnes of food monthly.

“Our supply chain is end to end. We’re bringing the supply chain closer to both the source and the market. We export some of the pre mixes to several of our locations in Southeast Asia as well as in the Visayas and Mindanao where volumes are not that big but continuity has to happen,” Mateo says. The director also adds the company has not yet ventured into large-scale exporting, as its current exports are only limited to Max’s pre-mixes for their caramel bars and ensaymada. MGI plans to export its ready-to-cook products in around two years when the market matures further. The COVID-19 pandemic has pushed many fast food and restaurant companies to push for ready-to-cook or frozen meals during past stringent lockdown restrictions in the country.

Max’s Group is also looking to venture into the cloud kitchen setup, which operates as a restaurant without its dine-in facilities, and is catered to mostly online deliveries. Max’s director Dave Fuentebella says the company has been shifting its approach to point of access, which could bring a quicker expansion.

For this year, the company is looking to invest in around 143 points of access stores, and 60 brick and mortar stores across the Philippines and North America. Fuentebella also says, “Then you add on around 50 delivered fresh daily formats of Krispy Kreme, and around 33 cloud kitchens,” The director finally adds, “So franchising is not just confined to totally building a new store. Of course, it’s part of the deal. It also includes, by the way, franchising of cloud kitchens, which of course, we have a number in the market to date. So that’s a new format for the current franchisees to consider.”

Source: BusinessMirror