Motorists and pedestrians who regularly pass by Mindanao Avenue in Quezon City for many years may have been surprised by the reappearance of the familiar Shakey's Pizza restaurant in the area alongside a new Peri-Peri Charcoal Chicken & Sauce Bar branch and, upon a closer look, Potato Corner and R&B Tea stores. All those establishments happen to be owned by the business group Shakey's Pizza Asia Ventures, Inc., or SPAVI, and they are called the WOW brands.

Clustering some or all affiliated brands in one free-standing development area is becoming a common practice for a very good and practical reason. This was explained by SPAVI president and chief executive officer Vicente Gregorio to DAILY TRIBUNE at the recent opening of WOW Brands-Mindanao Avenue location.

"Perhaps this can be typically described as a strategy intended to created synergy among the brands," he said. "The brands are complementary. It provides better choices, options for consumers. It's giving the power for consumers to choose."

The setup also gives more reasons for consumers to revisit the location, as pointed out by Gregorio, "Hindi ka naman kakain ng Shakey's araw-araw (You will not eat Shakey's every day)." Meaning, you can return another day and try items from the other brands.

"It's a sound strategy," Gregorio pointed out. Small wonder then that his team has built several cluster stores in different parts of the country. "It's not limited to free-standing. Even in the malls, we find a way na makakatabi (beside each other). Mas madali (Easier to) i-manage."

He shared another business strategy: "Sometimes we close an existing store na maliit na hindi na s'ya kasya (small and can't accommodate more people) and we look for a location nearby na malaking lote (bigger lot), and we will build a bigger Shakey's and attached to it, Peri-Peri [and other brands].

"Ang habol namin, mabigyan ng magandang (We're after the capability to give a good) experience. Kahit kumikita kami sa maliit na lugar (Even if we're earning from a small space), but if there's an opportunity to provide a bigger store, we will not mind investing again."