Balai Ni Fruitas ripe for further growth

Food kiosk king Lester Yu’s bakery chain Balai Ni Fruitas is bumping up commissary investments by over 80 percent to P110 million with its eyes firmly set on expansion in Metro Manila and Cebu.

Balai is the holding company of Yu’s Balai Ni Pandesal bakeshops, Buko Ni Fruitas and Fruitas House of Desserts.

The company said the increased commissary spending would come from proceeds from its initial public offering (IPO) that was intended for store network expansion and improvements.

“The purpose of the additional allocation of IPO proceeds to commissary setup is to reduce the need for further loans and help the company avoid interest expense for the N. Domingo commissary,” Balai said in a stock exchange filing on Monday.

Visayas

It also plans to allocate funds for the Balai commissary in Naya Village Tisa, Cebu City. This will expand the capacity for Balai products in the Visayas.

“The new commissary to be built in Tisa, Cebu City, is expected to be completed within the year,” Balai said.

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In a previous filing, Balai underscored efforts to preserve profit margins while increasing its cash position to support expansion.

From January to September last year, the operator of Balai Pandesal bakeshops booked a net income of P41 million versus P23 million during the same period in 2022, a stock exchange filing on Tuesday showed.

Revenues grew 65 percent to P387 million while earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization expanded by 62 percent to P74 million. As of Nov. 7 last year, Balai had 119 stores in its network. INQ