The country’s prime food and beverage store, Fruitas, has just got a little bigger as the company announces, via the Philippine Stock Exchange, the acquisition of the cloud kitchen business, Fly Kitchen Inc.
Already in the business of delivery-only, Fruitas’ procurement of Fly Kitchen will bolster its own cloud kitchen business, Nube Kuxina, which came into being only in the third quarter of 2022.
Per FRUIT President and CEO Lester Yu, the purpose of the purchase is to “remain competitive in the digital arena.”
Fly Kitchen, before the buyout, was the same company previously owned by McDonald’s PH heir George Yang. It saw the light of day at the height of the pandemic, in 2020, in response to the opportunity represented by a change in consumer trends.
The three-year-old company was the brainchild of business partners First Georgetown Ventures Inc. President, the aforementioned son of a business magnate, George Yang, and expert kitchen operations manager Marco Alquiros.
Finding its traction amid the competitive food business, Fly Kitchen has expanded across four strategic locations within Manila—namely, Mandaluyong, Makati, Pasig, and Quezon—and has been a partner to over 10 other businesses, such as Kanin at Sabaw, Hatid Pinoy, Jade Express, et cetera.
Food aggregators like GrabFood and Foodpanda were also the cloud kitchen’s other notable allies in the business.
For an undisclosed sum, the agreement, which pushed through on June 1, 2023, will see Fruitas buying all of Fly Kitchen’s outstanding shares. Effectively, the virtual kitchen’s assets, which include the four kitchen locations’ leasehold interest, recipes, every inventory and equipment, and technical knowledge will be transferred to Fruitas.