New food concept Lugaw Queen has set an expansion goal of increasing its network to 20 stores this year and 100 stores in five years through franchising.

Beverly Aquino, owner of Lugaw Queen, said the company now has so far established nine full-size branches, barely three years after they started the business with a mere capital of P1,100. Four of these nine stores are company-owned.

“We started with a four-square meter store in San Pablo, Laguna. But since lugaw [congee] is very profitable, the business grew quickly,” she told the BusinessMirror.

Aquino said the franchise fee, including the use of the name and company support, is only P150,000. But to establish a Lugaw Queen restaurant, a prospective franchisee would need P1 million in capital.

“We need a big kitchen so that will occupy some space already. And we make sure that the store is presentable because we also target A and B segments of the market,” she said.

Their target, she said, is to establish 100 stores in five years, 80 of them to be owned by franchisees. -- Max V. de Leon