MANILA - Filipino fast fashion pioneer Ben Chan remodeled one corner of his flagship store into an Instagram-worthy cafe, reflecting his growing bet on the restaurant scene.

Bench Cafe in Bonifacio Global City, which opened last Jan. 13, is the first to carry the name of Chan's clothing store and is operated in partnership with Foodee Global Concepts Inc.

Suyen Corp, Bench's parent, also operates Japanese chains Miasen and St. Marc Cafe, Patchi chocolates and Pablo desserts.

A post shared by Ben Chan (@bcbench) on Jan 12, 2018 at 9:08pm PST

Bench Cafe hopes to lure customers with its "glamorized turo-turo" concept that is "very accessible and very affordable," Foodee COO Eric Dee told ABS-CBN News.

"It’s a natural progression. It’s more on expanding the brand to strengthen the brand," Dee said.

Dee said he hoped to open up to 50 Bench Cafe outlets inside Bench clothing stores this year.

"Some of the Bench stores that will not be able to handle a full-scale restaurant will have the café version which is the halo-halo bar, coffees, cocktails, and iced tea," he said.

Retailers are doing "lifestyle branding," focusing on selling a lifestyle instead of a particular product, he said.

Bench is diversifying as foreign labels like H&M, Uniqlo, Forever 21 and Zara are expanding in the Philippines, occupying multi-level spaces in shopping malls.

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Aside from food, Suyen also operates furniture retailers Dimensione and Typo and distributes cosmetics brands from The Face Shop, Origins, Jo Malone, Estee Lauder and Bobbi Brown, according to its website.

Aside from diversifying their business, Filipino retailers like Bench are also looking overseas for growth, as competition increases at home, said Philippine Retailers Association president Paul Santos.

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