Ice cream brand expands to Cebu

SEEING Cebu as a potential market for frozen desserts, Manila-based ice cream brand Fruits in Ice Cream (FIC) has expanded its ice cream stations here.

Through its distributor, The Food People Inc. (TFPI), the company opened two FIC scooping stations in SM City Cebu and Ayala Center Cebu last year. The SM FIC
station opened in June while the Ayala station opened in November.

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“We took the risk of moving beyond Manila after we saw Cebu as a potential market for the business. Our partners in Cebu also wanted to bring this export quality ice cream to Cebuanos,” TFPI president Jose Martinez Celdran said in an interview.

He said they decided to expand to Cebu because it is one of the top tourist destinations in the country.

Celdran also said TFPI first tapped the export market, shipping FIC products to Canada, Australia and countries in Asia and the Middle East. The firm was able to grab a share of the local market after a number of their friends expressed interest to be home distributors of the brand.

FIC now has 15 scooping stations and 10 ice cream parlors in Luzon and the Visayas.

FIC sells premium ice cream, gourmet, FICLite and Pinoy Sorbetes. Most of its fruit ingredients are bought locally. Its milk is imported from Australia and New Zealand.
“What actually sets our product apart is that we are able to produce products that are distinctly Asian. FIC is a brand of premium quality,” he said.

While the global economic recession affected the country’s export industry, Celdran said the business was not quite affected.

“We were affected by the crisis but not as much compared with the big companies,” he said.

With the economy picking up, Celdran said the company plans to increase its capacity by expanding its ice cream plant and tapping more business partners in
restaurants, hotels and beach resorts, particularly in Cebu. The company also plans to tap more markets abroad.