Photo: Consul General Paul Raymund Cortes and spouse, Dr. Yasmin Balajadia-Cortes lead opening ceremonies of the first Shakey’s in this file photo. With them from left are Burhan Al Hashmi, Board Member, AlJeel Capital LLC; Firas Hurieh, CEO, AlJeel Capital LLC; and Vicente Gregorio, President and CEO, Shakey’s Pizza Asia Ventures Inc.;
DUBAI: Shakey’s, the popular pizza parlor overseas Filipino workers (OFWs) grew up with back home, will open its second branch in Dubai, a year after it inaugurated its first one in Bur Dubai next to the BurJuman metro station.
“Recently our partners here, Al Jeel Capital, also opened our second store and it is in Sharjah. A third store is coming up after the fall in Barsha,” Christopher T. Po, CEO and president of Century Pacific Group, told The Filipino Times in an exclusive interview.
Po, who very recently was in Dubai with Ted T. Po, Century Pacific Food president and CEO, as well as Greg H. Banzon, Century Pacific Food EVP and COO, said the decision to open more Shakey’s in the UAE came in light of the pilot branch’s success.
“The store opened last year. And our numbers here are very comparable to Manila. The opening of Shakey’s last year also saw the biggest sale of loyalty cards in this market, so we are very encouraged by that,” Po said.
Shakey’s has recently opened a branch in Sharjah, he said.
Amjad Mustafa, Aljeel Capital managing partner said the company is also “looking at opening in Abu Dhabi sometime at the end of this year.”
“We are definitely at the Northern Emirates as well so we are expanding and we see the appetite of the Filipinos to the beautiful offering that we give. We are expanding. We will stand by this concept and we will expand to respond to the desire of the Filipino community,” Mustafa said.
He added that they are also looking at tapping the main stream market. “We have a beautiful concept that everybody will enjoy, not only the Filipinos and we would like to make as many people as possible aware of that,” Mustafa said.
Po said they are “very encouraged by what’s happening here in the restaurant side of the business.”
Shakey’s is the leading casual dining restaurant in the Philippines with about 230 stores.
“We are very lucky to have our partners here believing in the brand and in the growth potential of Shakey’s,” Po said.
