Koomi takes on aggressive expansion amid COVID-19 pandemic

Armando Fenequito Jr.

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posted on 4 years ago — updated on 1 second ago

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DAVAO CITY -- When COVID-19 pandemic hit the whole world, many businesses were affected and opted to close or stop their operations because of low revenue due to a series of community quarantine restrictions. With the closure of businesses, many lose their jobs and have difficulties finding another source of income to survive their daily needs.

However, it’s a different story for Koomi Natural Drinking Yogurt.

In an interview with NewsFort, Visum Ventures Inc. (owner of Koomi), President and Chief Executive Officer John-Michael Hilton said the company became more aggressive during the pandemic.

Hilton said when he started Koomi in the Philippines in 2019, they just opened six branches in Metro Manila.

“During the pandemic, I opened a total of 53 branches,” he said.

He said the company has now employed a total of close to 500 personnel in all of their branches in the country.

“At the end of the year we will employ 800 staff,” he said.

Hilton emphasized that the company is lucky that their aggressive expansion pushed through because yogurt is a healthy drink which is good for digestion and immunity.

“Timing lang, that when the pandemic hit, we were able to expand and bring this drink kasi everyone - we are a tropical country, everyone loves drinks, everyone loves milk tea. So, this is the healthier version of milk tea, ” he said.

Hilton also shared that during the pandemic, there were also opportunities for the business such as many spaces available in prime positions, malls gave favorable rental fees and employed many people.

He said that during the lockdowns, the company employed many people, especially those who were laid off by their former employers who opted to close down.

“Since the pandemic, we have really tripled the team,” he said.

Hilton said that Koomi is not yet done with their aggressive expansion because their goal before this year end, is to be in different provinces and cities around the country.

On December 11 and 12, Koomi opened their two branches here in Davao City, particularly in SM Lanang Premier and SM City Davao. These branches are the first in Mindanao.

He said they selected Davao City as the first destination of their stores because it is considered as the famous city with more exposures in Mindanao.

Hilton said the company will open another branch here in the city next year because he believes there’s a lot of business potential here.

“We are looking for a few locations, we’re just doing market scans, firstly we want to have two in the city to see how the brand does. But, with the opening sales yesterday (December 11) it’s very promising. We look to open five more Koomis next year, 2022 in Davao, ” he said.

He also said aside from Davao City, they will also open branches in the cities of Cagayan de Oro and Zamboanga which will also meet their goal to employ thousands of employees.