A WHOPPING P72.6 billion.
This is what the homegrown franchise concepts of the Association of Filipino Franchisers Inc. (Affi) expect to make in collective gross sales this year.
Paulo Tibig, Affi president, said the franchisees grossed P60.5 billion in 2009 and they expect the amount to jump by 20 percent this year.
The local franchisers not only withstood the economic downturn caused by the global financial crisis, their sales actually doubled from three years ago, Tibig said.
Tibig, who is also president of VCargo, said Affi, as an organization, is also growing rapidly. It now has 119 member-companies; it started with just 80 at the start of the year.
“Food still dominates [the franchise concepts] but we also have many in the nonfood and allied industries. There is now a high awareness among Filipinos that the easiest way to get into business is through franchising,” Tibig said.
The Affi official spoke during the press launch yesterday of the 2010 Affi franchise show which will be held at the World Trade Center from September 16 to 19.
Neil Delgado, Affi vice president for press relations and marketing, said this year’s Affi show will feature at least 380 exhibitors representing 120 business concepts, doubling the exhibition booths last year. They expect as many as 25,000 visitors, he said.
Teresita L. Ngan Tian, Affi chairman emeritus and president of Lots’A Pizza, said exhibitors would be having their own shows in their respective booths, with the franchise owners themselves ready to answer queries from prospective franchisees. Lots’A Pizza, for instance, is calling its booth “The Event Center” where visitors would benefit from business seminars and other activities for free.
Richard Sanz, Affi vice president and owner of Bibingkinitan, said Affi members now have over 6,000 outlets nationwide with more than 36,000 employees.
Sanz said Affi develops local franchisers through three stages—entrepreneurship development, local expansion and global expansion.
Some of the local concepts that have now ventured abroad, he said, include Potato Corner, Goto King, Figaro and Fiorgellato. Bibingkinitan is set to put up a store in Indonesia.
Tibig said Affi’s member-firms recorded more than 30-percent growth in combined sales in 2009, although the figure is expected to be lower this year because Metro Manila is already saturated and franchisers are currently developing their provincial markets.
He also said that while Affi supports the Department of Trade and Industry’s creation of an oversight committee to look into ways of regulating franchising, it fears that too much regulation could stunt the growth of the industry.
“We want to protect consumers, franchisers and investors but we have to see the regulations first because they might preempt the expansion of the industry. Right now, we are for self-regulation and we actually expelled at least two members for unethical practices,” he said.
Sanz said there has to be a middle ground so that fly-by-night franchisers would not gyp the public and, at the same time, the industry would continue to grow.
Delgado said there are existing laws that punish malpractices so those in the business must be guided accordingly. The public must also be well informed on who the legitimate franchisers are so it would not be victimized by the fakes.
