WELLNESS IN TRADE & INDUSTRY: US brands are seeking Philippine partners

Why US brands are seeking Philippine partners | ABS-CBN News: "Josh Merin, international affairs director of the US-based International Franchise Association, said that while this wasn’t the case in the past, foreign businesses are now seeing “a growing sophistication of the Philippine business community.”

“It was historically not as important of a market, it’s really over the past 5 or 6 years that it has come to the forefront as a very important market to international franchise companies,” Merin said Friday during a press briefing at the two-day US Franchise Trade Mission.

The trade mission visited the Philippines for the first time to pitch business concepts to Philippine franchisees.

The delegation included representatives from 14 American franchises interested in expanding in the Philippines, namely Edible Arrangements, Jan-Pro Cleaning Systems, Panda Express, Pretzelmaker, Russo’s New York Pizzeria, Title Boxing Club, World of Beer, Great American Cookies, Marble Slab Creamery, PJ’s Coffee, RadioShack, Tilted Kilt Pub and Eatery, Tutor Doctor, and Wow Café.

Merin said applications for the trade mission to the Philippines hit a record-high, compared to trade missions to China and India, which signified high interest in the Philippine business market.

“A lot of the things that have driven this are the ongoing growth of the Philippine economy, the very strong cultural ties that exist between the Philippines and the US, the fact that it is an English-speaking country helps a great deal, and the regulatory environment has improved in recent years to make it easier for franchise companies to come in,” explained Merin.

The American brands are looking for master franchisees in the Philippines to develop their brand.

The master franchisees will then be allowed to sub-franchise and sell off individual units within the Philippines.

“These US brands will be owned by Filipino nationals and the huge majority of the revenue, about 90 percent, would be staying in the Philippines with only a limited royalty stream going back to the US franchisor,” said Merin."



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