Domino’s Pizza, Starbucks, Burger King and TGI Fridays are some of the renowned fast food restaurants and coffee shops managed by Alsea in the world. The general director of the operating company for Cono Sur, Santiago Farinati, referred to the plans of the brands that have a presence in Uruguay.
At a local level, their strong points are Burger King and Starbucks and, for this second half of the year, they plan to open five stores, among which will be the landing in the country of Domino’s Pizza. Below is a summary of Farinati’s interview with Café & Negocios.
After the end of the health emergency, how do you evaluate the development of Alsea Cono Sur’s business? And in Uruguay?
After the end of the health emergency, the industry changed forever and our role as a leading company was to continue working conscientiously to understand these changes and anticipate those to come. To get through this context, and as part of our DNA, we focus on putting ourselves in our clients’ shoes, understanding how they are going to react and how, through innovation, technology, agility and security, we can continue to offer a service quality.
The pandemic meant an abrupt change in business operations, how did that affect your profitability and what is your current situation?
It was a period of great learning in which, in addition to going through the pandemic, we decided to regionalize ourselves. Therefore, our challenge was not only to adapt to the context and new realities that we have gone through as a company, but also to translate this into concrete processes and policies towards our leaders and collaborators, which are visible to our talents and reflect the mission and values of Alsea Cono Sur, with its peculiarities. Without a doubt, the integration of Alsea Cono Sur carried with it a great responsibility of being able to integrate teams from three very different markets, but it strengthened our business and through it we focused on prioritizing the continuous search for synergy between teams with the objective of sharing best professional practices, elevating and internationalizing the management of our daily work and functioning in an integrated manner as the multinational that we are and to which we are proud to belong. At the Southern Cone level, we are resuming our consumption trend and we can say that we are seeing positive results, and we hope to continue along this path. This growth can also be seen in Uruguay, upon learning of our expansion plan in the country and the arrival of a new brand in our portfolio, which will allow us to reach new Uruguayan locations and new customers.
What have been the business units that have performed best in recent times?
Our consumption trend is growing, and this allows us not only to reactivate our business, but also to promote our expansion plan. Although all our brands are growing and with positive results, it should be noted that the two strongest in the region are Burger King and Starbucks.
How do you describe the profile of the Uruguayan consumer?
Although the use of delivery increased, we noticed that our clients in Uruguay, as in other countries in the region, prefer to purchase products in our stores and premises, through which they have the possibility of living the full experience of our brands.
Is it in your plans to arrive with new proposals to Uruguay?
By 2022 we have a challenging expansion and remodeling plan ahead of us in the three countries that make up our region (Argentina, Chile and Uruguay) in which we will invest more than US$ 17 million in the opening of more than 30 stores and more than US $10 million in renovations. In addition to this plan, we are very pleased to announce that in addition to being present with Starbucks in Uruguay, we will launch a new brand in our portfolio in the country, which is Domino’s Pizza, a milestone that will allow us to continue betting on a solid growth strategy in the country. Hand in hand with these projects, we estimate that more than 75 new jobs will be generated in Uruguay, and five openings are expected by 2022, with an estimated investment of US$ 2.3 million.
Can the economic uncertainty in Argentina affect the development of more businesses in Uruguay?
We are an organization with a regional vision, so when analyzing possibilities for new businesses, openings or remodeling, we take into account the context of the three countries. However, before starting a new business in any of the three countries that make up the region, we analyze what response the local public we will be addressing will have, what their particularities are, specific needs and types of responses to each of our brands. . Analyzing all this is that we make our decision. We manage each context that arises with great responsibility in all the markets in which we operate, with the aim of continuing to deliver a competitive offer to our clients, delivering the experience that always characterizes us.
What are your future prospects?
We are a company whose DNA is always to be in constant growth, we analyze the possibility of expanding our portfolio or even incorporating new markets, and when we see it possible we bet on it. We are very happy with the recovery of our business after the pandemic, and we plan to continue with our expansion plan and we will be attentive to the opportunities that arise. By 2022 we have a challenging expansion and remodeling plan ahead of us in the three countries that make up our region (Argentina, Chile and Uruguay) in which we will invest more than US$ 17 million in the opening of more than 30 stores and more than US $10 million in renovations. Hand in hand with this project, we estimate that almost 900 new jobs will be generated. In Chile, 22 openings are expected by 2022 with an estimated investment of US$ 11.5 million. In Argentina there will be four openings by 2022 and the investment will be US$3.3 million. While in Uruguay, five openings are expected by 2022 and an estimated investment of US$ 2.3 million. In addition, we plan to continue promoting comprehensive, inclusive, diverse, stable and safe development, providing job opportunities to people who feel affinity and commitment to our purpose: to deliver happiness and experiences full of flavor, and culture, and promoting our pillar of sustainability and technological innovations at the service of our customers’ experience.
