Uncle John's (store)

Robinsons Convenience Stores, Inc.
Uncle John's
FormerlyMinistop Philippines (2000–2022)
Company typeSubsidiary
IndustryConvenience store
PredecessorMinistop Philippines
FoundedDecember 2000; 24 years ago (2000-12)[1]
Headquarters
Quezon City
,
Philippines
Number of locations
458 stores[2] (2021)
ParentRobinsons Retail Holdings, Inc.
Websiteunclejohns.ph Edit this at Wikidata

Uncle John's is a convenience store chain based in the Philippines owned and operated by Robinsons Convenience Stores Inc.

History

Ministop Philippines

Ministop outlet in San Fernando, Pampanga.
Cashiers at the counter of a Ministop outlet.

Uncle John's traces is roots to the Ministop franchise in the Philippines which was owned by Robinsons Convenience Stores Inc (RCSI). Robinsons Retail Holdings, Inc. (RRHI) of the Gokongwei Group entered into a partnership with Ministop Co. and Mitsubishi Corporation to run the Ministop franchise in the Philippines under RCSI.[3]

The first Ministop branch in the Philippines was opened in December 2000.[1] In 2006, Ministop Philippines introduce the Uncle John's Fried Chicken which would become its flagship product.[4] By 2014, it has grown to the second largest convenience store chain in the Philippines behind 7-Eleven with the opening of the 400th Ministop branch in Bonifacio Global City.[1][5]

In 2018, RRHI acquired Mitsubishi's stakes in the Ministop Philippines franchise to increase its stakes to 59.1 percent from 51 percent.[6]

In January 2022, AEON, the Japanese parent company behind Ministop, announced that it would pull out Ministop out of the Philippines and South Korea to focus developing the brand in its home market.[7] AEON's partner, Robinsons Retail would buy out the stakes of the Japanese firm in the Philippines the following month. Robinsons announced that Ministop Philippines would undergo a rebrand, with its local bestsellers such as Uncle John's Fried Chicken would be retained as part of its offerings.[2][8]

Uncle John's

In September 2022, it was announced that the Ministop stores in the Philippines would be rebranded as Uncle John's after the flagship fried chicken product of the same name.[9] In October 2022, the outlet in Pampanga was the first to exhibit the new Uncle John's yellow-blue branding. The rebranding process of the Ministop outlets in the Philippines is projected to be completed by 2023.[4] RRHI announced a merger of RCSI with its wholly-owned subsidiary Robinsons Supermarket Corp., which was approved by the Securities and Exchange Commission on December 19, 2022, and would take effect on July 1, 2023.[10]

Branding

An Uncle John's branch in Marikina

Uncle John's uses blue and yellow as the main colors for its brand. The name of the outlet which came from its fried chicken product was selected through its "Ready, Set, Name!" promotional campaign held in April 2022 which yielded around 80,000 entries. The name of the chicken brand is a reference to RRHI founder John Gokongwei, Jr.[4]

Products

Uncle John's is known for its various signature products which were sold back when it was still operating under the Ministop name. Among these are Uncle John's Fried Chicken and Kariman fried sandwich.[4][11][12]

References

  1. ^ a b c "Ministop opens 400th store in BGC". ABS-CBN News. February 27, 2014. Retrieved December 14, 2022.
  2. ^ a b Vinzon, Cliff (January 24, 2022). "Ministop Philippines to rebrand as Japanese partner exits". Nikkei Asia. Retrieved December 14, 2022.
  3. ^ Gonzales, Iris (January 25, 2022). "Gokongwei Group to rebrand Ministop". The Philippine Star. Retrieved December 14, 2022.
  4. ^ a b c d "Say hello to 'Uncle John's'". Manila Bulletin. October 21, 2022. Retrieved December 14, 2022.
  5. ^ "Ministop in rapid Philippine expansion". Inside Retail. Octomedia Pty. Ltd. March 10, 2014. Retrieved December 14, 2022.
  6. ^ Nicolas, Jino (September 3, 2018). "RRHI hikes stake in Ministop PHL as Mitsubishi Corp. exits venture". BusinessWorld. Retrieved December 14, 2022.
  7. ^ Kono, Shohei; Hosokawa, Kotaro (January 22, 2022). "Convenience store chain Ministop pulls out of South Korea and Philippines". Nikkei Asia. Retrieved December 14, 2022.
  8. ^ Cabuenas, Jon Viktor (January 24, 2022). "Gokongwei group to take over Ministop Philippines in February". GMA News. Retrieved December 14, 2022.
  9. ^ Gonzales, Iris (September 24, 2022). "Gokongweis rebrand Ministop as Uncle John's". The Philippine Star. Retrieved December 14, 2022.
  10. ^ Lorenciana, Carlo (December 23, 2022). "Robinsons merges supermarket, convenience store units". SunStar. Retrieved January 2, 2023.
  11. ^ "Uncle John's will be new name of Ministop". ABS-CBN News. September 23, 2022. Retrieved December 14, 2022.
  12. ^ Madarang, Catalina Ricci (January 25, 2022). "Ministop Philippines says bestsellers to stay amid rebrand announcement". Interaksyon. Retrieved December 14, 2022.