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Bench boss Chan raises bet on restaurants

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Katrina Domingo, ABS-CBN News

<p>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.</p><p>Bench Cafe in Bonifacio Global City, which opened last Jan. 13, is the first to carry the name of Chan&#x27;s clothing store and is operated in partnership with Foodee Global Concepts Inc.</p><p>Suyen Corp, Bench&#x27;s parent, also operates Japanese chains Miasen and St. Marc Cafe, Patchi chocolates and Pablo desserts.</p><blockquote class="instagram-media" data-instgrm-permalink="https://www.instagram.com/p/Bd4Jo13n1oN/" data-instgrm-version="8" style="background:#FFF;border:0;border-radius:3px;box-shadow:0 0 1px 0 rgba(0,0,0,0.5),0 1px 10px 0 rgba(0,0,0,0.15);margin:1px;max-width:658px;padding:0;width:calc(100% - 2px)"><div style="padding:8px"><div style="background:#F8F8F8;line-height:0;margin-top:40px;padding:62.5% 0;text-align:center;width:100%"><div style="background:url(data:image/png;base64,iVBORw0KGgoAAAANSUhEUgAAACwAAAAsCAMAAAApWqozAAAABGdBTUEAALGPC/xhBQAAAAFzUkdCAK7OHOkAAAAMUExURczMzPf399fX1+bm5mzY9AMAAADiSURBVDjLvZXbEsMgCES5/P8/t9FuRVCRmU73JWlzosgSIIZURCjo/ad+EQJJB4Hv8BFt+IDpQoCx1wjOSBFhh2XssxEIYn3ulI/6MNReE07UIWJEv8UEOWDS88LY97kqyTliJKKtuYBbruAyVh5wOHiXmpi5we58Ek028czwyuQdLKPG1Bkb4NnM+VeAnfHqn1k4+GPT6uGQcvu2h2OVuIf/gWUFyy8OWEpdyZSa3aVCqpVoVvzZZ2VTnn2wU8qzVjDDetO90GSy9mVLqtgYSy231MxrY6I2gGqjrTY0L8fxCxfCBbhWrsYYAAAAAElFTkSuQmCC);display:block;height:44px;margin:0 auto -44px;position:relative;top:-22px;width:44px"> </div></div><p style="color:#c9c8cd;font-family:Arial,sans-serif;font-size:14px;line-height:17px;margin-bottom:0;margin-top:8px;overflow:hidden;padding:8px 0 7px;text-align:center;text-overflow:ellipsis;white-space:nowrap"><a href="https://www.instagram.com/p/Bd4Jo13n1oN/" style="color:#c9c8cd;font-family:Arial,sans-serif;font-size:14px;font-style:normal;font-weight:normal;line-height:17px;text-decoration:none" target="_blank">A post shared by Ben Chan (@bcbench)</a> on <time dateTime="2018-01-13T05:08:22+00:00" style="font-family:Arial,sans-serif;font-size:14px;line-height:17px">Jan 12, 2018 at 9:08pm PST</time></p></div></blockquote><div><script async="" defer="" src="https://platform.instagram.com/en_US/embeds.js" type="text/javascript"></script></div><p>Bench Cafe hopes to lure customers with its &quot;glamorized turo-turo&quot; concept that is &quot;very accessible and very affordable,&quot; Foodee COO Eric Dee told ABS-CBN News.</p><p>&quot;It’s a natural progression. It’s more on expanding the brand to strengthen the brand,&quot; Dee said.</p><p>Dee said he hoped to open up to 50 Bench Cafe outlets inside Bench clothing stores this year.</p><p>&quot;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,&quot; he said.</p><p>Retailers are doing &quot;lifestyle branding,&quot; focusing on selling a lifestyle instead of a particular product, he said.</p><p>Bench is diversifying as foreign labels like H&amp;M, Uniqlo, Forever 21 and Zara are expanding in the Philippines, occupying multi-level spaces in shopping malls.</p><ul class="op-related-articles">	<li><a href="http://news.abs-cbn.com/business/08/10/17/retailers-seek-mall-owners-help-to-fight-foreign-invasion">Retailers seek mall owners&#x27; help to fight foreign invasion </a></li>	<li><a href="http://news.abs-cbn.com/business/01/04/18/tax-reform-positive-for-restaurants-says-peri-peri-tokyo-milk-cheese-boss">Tax reform &#x27;positive&#x27; for restaurants, says Peri-Peri, Tokyo Milk Cheese boss </a></li></ul><p>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.</p><p>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.</p><ul class="op-related-articles">	<li><a href="http://news.abs-cbn.com/business/09/06/17/why-foreign-fast-fashion-is-winning-retail-war">Why foreign fast-fashion is winning retail war</a></li></ul>

<p>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.</p>

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 boss Chan raises bet on restaurants

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Bench boss Chan raises bet on restaurants

Katrina Domingo,

ABS-CBN News

Published January 16, 2018 04:19 PM PHT

Read More:

Bench

Ben Chan

food

clothing

retail

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