How PickUp Coffee plans to be the ‘next Jollibee’

Pickup Coffee Peach Iced Tea

From a pandemic-era startup built on affordable espresso drinks, PickUp Coffee is now brewing an aggressive expansion across the Philippines and Mexico, with the hopes of becoming the next Filipino food giant.

The coffee chain aims to end the year with 800 stores as it rolls out local franchising for the first time and accelerates expansion in both markets, according to global managing director Francis Flores.

“We want to be the next Jollibee—a proud Filipino brand that can go big,” Flores says in an interview at the launch of the company’s franchising program.

PickUp Coffee currently operates about 513 stores in the Philippines and more than 50 outlets in Mexico City. It plans to open another 150 to 200 company-owned stores this year, with the remaining stores for expansion expected to come from franchisees.

“We’re going franchising,” Flores says. “Imagine if we franchise, we further unlock expansion.”

Under its newly rolled endeavor, investments will range from about P1.7 million for kiosk formats to roughly P4 million for larger inline cafés. Flores says franchisees in strong locations could recover their investments within 18 to 24 months.

The company said priority expansion areas include North Luzon, Visayas and Mindanao. It is also looking at hospitals, airports and tourist destinations where the chain still has limited presence.

This aggressive push comes even as the Middle East crisis drives up costs across the retail industry.

Still, Flores says PickUp Coffee posted a 20-percent increase in same-store sales at the end of the first quarter. He said this was attributed to the company’s positioning as an affordable premium coffee brand.

“We’re the everyday premium coffee,” he said.

Beyond the Philippines, PickUp Coffee is also ramping up its Mexico business, which Flores describes as the company’s “proof of concept” for broader international expansion. The chain plans to end the year with 100 stores in Mexico City alone.

Flores says Mexico was chosen because of its similarities with the Philippines.

“There’s a lot of similarities when it comes to culture, religion, love for family and even taste profiles,” he said.

PickUp Coffee has also started building a global management structure to support overseas growth, including separate country CEOs for the Philippines and Mexico.

The company launched in 2022 with backing from Kickstart Ventures, the venture capital arm of Globe Telecom Inc., alongside Singapore-based investment firms Openspace Ventures and Venturi Partners.