Corporate News
Bottled water company buys GoodAh!!!
Goodah!!! Foodhouse Corp., a popular fastfood chain in the eighties, has been acquired by the Soler family, the owner of Crystal Clear Purified Drinking Water.Jose Soler, owner of Solerex Water Technologies, Inc., which operates Crystal Clear, told BusinessWorld yesterday the family-owned Del Sol Foods purchased GoodAh!!! from the Rodriguez family and its partners.
He declined to say for how much his company bought the fastfood company that first popularized quick rice and porridge meals and 24-hour operations.
"The agreement for the sale was reached last August but we took over management and signed everything by September," Mr. Soler said.
He said Del Sol bought GoodAh!!!, which was then managed by his childhood friend JR Rodriguez, because the brand has "sentimental value."
"We value the trademark. But at the same time, we like the challenge of turning the brand around," Mr. Soler said.
Asked if the previous owners had problems with operating GoodAh!!!, Mr. Soler said, "it was more of owners’ fatigue for them."
"They just needed new blood and they were slow to evolve," he said. He said there were "personal reasons" for the sale of the fastfood chain.
BusinessWorld tried to contact Mr. Rodriguez but he declined to be interviewed.
Under the new management, GoodAh!!! will be rapidly expanding next year through franchising.
The company, Mr. Soler said, will use Crystal Clear’s franchising network to open 25 new outlets by next year. Currently the firm has five outlets.
"That [franchising through Crystal Clear’s network] would be the fastest route," he said, as he noted that 25 of 30 Crystal Clear franchisees already committed to open a GoodAh!!! outlet.
He said those who grew up knowing the brand are also interested in owning their own outlets.
"They are looking forward to the revival. These are people who are now upper management and they’re telling us to hurry because they want to put up a franchise," he said.
He said staff at two existing franchises of GoodAh!!! -- in Edsa Central and Guagua, Pampanga -- will undergo retraining under the new management.
A GoodAh!!! franchise would cost between P1.2 million and P1.5 million and would cover everything including the training of the staff, inventory for a week, and uniforms.
Repayment of the franchise fees would be spread over 10.1 months. Outlets will have floor areas of around 100 square meters, and will have parking spaces, unlike the previous outlets, Mr. Soler said.
He said GoodAh!!! will go back to having non-airconditioned outlets.
"After reviewing the strategy [of having aiconditioned outlets] we came to the conclusion that people don’t go to GoodAh!!! because of the aircon. So we’re going back to the non-airconditioned concept," he said.
GoodAh!!! will also expand the number of company-owned stores. It has two company-owned outlets: one in West Avenue and another in Libis. A third outlet in Sucat is set to reopen by December.
"We want to maintain a 40% ratio for company-owned stores," Mr. Soler said.
He said while areas with a lot of traffic are preferable, sites are still being determined.
Before the end of the year, GoodAh!!! will hold the ground-breaking of a franchised outlet in Buendia, Mr. Soler said.
Another outlet will also be opened in Quirino corner Taft, he added. "We still have a lot of locations. We’re very hopeful, because we have veterans from the majors who are with us and they are all excited," he said.
Mr. Soler said his firm has received inquiries from the Bay area, South California, Hong Kong, and Dubai. "But this will come eventually," he said.
GoodAh!!! coined several terms, including tapsilog (tapa-sinangag-itlog), tosilog (tocino-sinangag-itlog), and longsilog (longganisa-sinangag-itlog). It hit the peak of its popularity when movie trio Tito Vic and Joey made a movie called Goodah!!!
Del Sol Foods is the beverage and bottled water firm of the Soler family. It has a juice factory that produces Juice Ko! Flavored juices in the Philippines, Indonesia, Malaysia and Singapore.
Solerex Water, its affiliate, is engaged in the sale, franchising, and management of water refilling stations. It is also a supplier of water filtration, sterilization, and purification equipment. It has 250 operating stores, including outlets operating in Indonesia and Malaysia.
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