MANILA - Shakey's Pizza on Tuesday said it is bringing Singapore's R&B milk and bubble tea brand in the country, capitalizing on a growing local milk tea market.

Shakey's Pizza, one of the country's largest casual dining restaurant brands inked a master franchise agreement with Singapore-based Koufu Group Ltd which owns R&B Tea, Shakey's told the stock exchange.

Under the agreement, Shakey's Pizza will have "territorial rights" to sell R&B milk tea, bubble tea, and other specialty tea drinks in the Philippines, through its stand-alone store formats and co-branding in select Shakey’s and Peri-Peri Charcoal Chicken outlets, it said.

"This co-branding initiative is likewise in line with our renewed focus on out-of-store consumption, enhancing sales thru these channels with minimal additional investment and maximizing the use of our existing assets,” said Vicente Gregorio, Shakey's Pizza president and CEO.

Koufu Group Ltd is one of the largest operators and managers of food courts and coffee shops in Singapore, while its R&B Tea currently has more than 1,000 outlets worldwide namely in the US, China, Singapore, Cambodia, Vietnam, Malaysia and Indonesia, it said.

"We are excited to bring our high growth tea beverage concept brands to a new market, the Philippines, with Manila as our initial
landing point. We have carefully considered the market trends and found the conditions in the Philippines to be favourable, where there has been a growing receptiveness towards the bubble tea culture in recent years," said Pang Lim, Koufu Group's executive chairman and CEO.

Milk tea and bubble tea are top-selling products for take out and deliveries, which "travels well like pizza," Shakey's said.

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