Pancake House Buys Yellow Cab for 800 Million Pesos
Yellow Cab Pizza and Pancake House Philippines
800 million is a lot of money. That's why I was really surprised to see the news that Pancake House bought Yellow Cab for this much.
I grew up in a small gated community in Alabang and right outside the village is a branch of Yellow Cab. This was very early on, back when Yellow Cab was just starting up and starting to spread its influence in the food market of the Philippines. My first impression was that it was very well packaged with the whole New York kind of identity. At first I even thought it was a franchise of a foreign brand.
Pancake House, on the other hand, is already an institution in the Philippines. I do personally think that their food is overpriced and that there's really nothing super special with their recipes but then that doesn't stop me from always coming back for more. Once again, it's more of a memory thing, I believe. It reminds me a lot of my childhood and for the same reasons I expressed with Luk Yuen, it's more of sentimental value, I guess.
The tacos and the waffles are just a few of my all time favorites. I don't think there's anything super special with those recipes but I do crave them every time I see the photos in the menu and in the posters. Their spaghetti is very delicious and unique as well.
I really don't know how this purchase will change Yellow Cab, their menu, and the brand identity. It's really amazing to have observed from how such a small company has become worth 800 million and now has branches in Qatar, Malaysia, Guam, and in the US. All this is just making me crave some of their pizza and I really want to get some of the stuff on their menu right now.
Yellow Cab Pizza
As I have said, I grew up very near a branch of Yellow Cab. It's walking distance from my house. Aside from that, I can get it delivered any time I want. I really love a lot of the recipes in their menu. Their pizza, for instance, is really so unique compared to other pizza brands here in the Philippines. And don't even get me started with their hot wings. I'm personally very partial to chicken wings and their hot wings recipe is really so lovely. There's no need for gravy or any kind of sauce (although I prefer to add more of their chili oil and hot sauce cause I like it very spicy). It's really so juicy and tasty on the inside and very crispy on the outside.
They also have a lot of other interesting stuff in their menu like the Charlie Chan Chicken Pasta and the Chicken Alfredo. They're really really good and unique as well. I love how perfect the pasta is and the sauce just really compliments it so much. Charlie Chan is one of my all time favorites although recently I've come to prefer the Alfredo (a much newer addition to their menu).
As you can see, even when I grew up very near Yellow Cab, I never got sick of it. Many times we would have it delivered when we have guests or when there is a special occasion. And it's really so convenient because we're so near. To make things faster, I can even just go there and wait. But of course nothing beats just having to relax and wait to get Yellow Cab Delivery.
Yellow Cab Purchased By Pancake House
Now that I've one the unnecessary and have expressed my love for this pizza brand, it's time to talk about the 800 million peso purchase. Surely it's nothing or no big deal compared to the purchase of Mang Inasal by Jollibee that was at around 3 billion pesos from what I hear. That's a really crazy value. But then 800 million isn't so bad at all too (it really isn't). It's amazing how this company has thrived by providing a unique experience and innovative recipes. I've had someone tell me that Yellow Cab was already going down some months ago (which I found really hard to believe being that, as you have seen, I am a big fan of this restaurant), but obviously the 800 million purchase proves otherwise.
Plus, there's still Army Navy, which is also owned by Yellow Cab. I don't really think that Army Navy comes with the 800 million purchase but now that there's the 800 million purchase of Yellow Cab, the previous owner can focus on Army Navy.
I'm personally not so fond of Army Navy and find nothing special about their burritos and other recipes. I just think that for almost the same price you can get more authentic tasting mexican food. See, I'm not biased. I will say if I don't like something. I think the previous owner of Yellow Cab is a girl, if I remember correctly. I'm really lazy to Google so you can go on and do that yourself. No matter who he/she is I congratulate him/her for such success and the 800 million pesos. That's intense. I wonder what I'll do with that much money. Hmm.
I guess we'll just have to see what new things Pancake House will do with Yellow Cab. They're supposedly planning to have more than 200 branches by 2012 or something like that. It's a bit ambitious and I don't know exactly how they're expecting to get the return of their investment. I mean, how do you get back 800 million right? Maybe from franchises? I don't know. But surely they have a good team in place to take care of that and I am hoping that they don't ruin the current image of Yellow Cab.
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