Daily Tribune‘We are a strong and established brand with 40 years of franchising experience in the Philippines. We have an adaptable business format that enables our franchisees to do business even at the height of the Covid-19 crisis.’
Mister Donut, Gaisano Mall, Iligan branch. | PHOTOGRAPH COURTESY OF MISTER DONUT
After the devastation caused by the global pandemic to their enterprise, an official of Mister Donut, one of the largest doughnut chains in the world, said they are already recapturing their pre-pandemic sales from their more than 3,500 branches and kiosks nationwide.
In an interview, Cherryl Carino, the senior franchising manager at Mister Donut said to date, franchise stores of Mister Donut, operated and owned by master franchisor Ramcar Group of Companies, are around 600 plus branches, while 30 are company-owned after opening some branches this year.
"Key Accounts and Institutional Partners total 3,000 while we currently have 20 plants strategically located in Luzon, Visayas and Mindanao. Nakakabawi na kami (We've recovered) in a way, and what is delightful to tell is that our provincial kiosks and dine-in branches are prospering. And in terms of target sales, we are hitting them. One of our franchisees, Honeylet Avancena, describes Mister Donut as a survivor brand," Carino said.
The target sales for 2023 of Mister Donut is around P2 billion, she said.
On track
"We want to claim that we even surpass or hit the target. But in terms of opening new branches, we are on track," she said, adding that 50-plus branches are set to be opened toward the end of this year.
She said during the onset of the pandemic in 2020, 50 percent of their pre-pandemic sales were lost. This year, Mister Donut was able to open 150 kiosks and dine-in branches. Next year, Carino said they are eyeing to open 250 stores nationwide.
Despite this, she said some stores, especially those with dine-in services still suffer from economic headwinds happening in the country, where some are closing or downsizing operations and converting it to take-out kiosks.
"Foot traffic is a main factor for closing or store conversions to take-out. Some customers don't even know that we offer dine-in. Mister Donut stores are offering other food items such as tapsilog, pastas, even adobo. It is because what is known to customers are only our kiosks that offer donuts. These dine-in restaurants are for grabs for franchises," she said.
"Mister Donut prides itself on a variety of donuts na "tamang-tama ang tamis" (sweetness just right) baked products, beverages, snackwiches, pasta, and light meals that are "snackatutuwa" (snacks that are a delight in flavor) and will surely bring delight to customers," she added.
Competitive franchise fee
She said the franchise fee of Mister Donut is competitive, as the lowest price of their franchise cost is P90,000 while the highest is P1.2 million.
"We are a strong and established brand with 40 years of franchising experience in the Philippines. We have an adaptable business format that enables our franchisees to do business even at the height of the Covid-19 crisis."
Also, we have a solid infrastructure that supports nationwide production, distribution, product research, and development. Lastly, we provide continuous assistance to our franchisees, such as business consultancy, training, and marketing," Cariño said.
"The Mister Donut Advantage is we do not have royalty fees, we have the "Pay One Franchise Fee, Open Many" program, we have guaranteed computed profit per product, as well as expansion support," she added.
