About URC
Business Highlights
Universal Robina Corporation (URC) is one of the largest branded consumer food and beverage product companies in the Philippines. Founded in 1954 by Mr. John Gokongwei, Jr., URC has pioneered brands of exceptional quality for over six decades.
Today, the company continues to live up to its name as a sustainable global enterprise while delighting customers in eleven high-growth markets across Asia.
URC’s diverse portfolio and expansive geographic footprint have empowered the company with market share gains across categories. In the Philippines, it is recognized as the market leader in snacks, candies, chocolates, cup noodles, and ready-to-drink tea. In Thailand, it is known for being a leader in the biscuits category with a firm footing in the wafers category. URC also maintains a strong position in Malaysia’s biscuits market and Vietnam’s ready-to-drink tea segment.
The company is also one of the Philippines’ largest players in the Agro-Industrial & Commodities industry as the largest sugar miller in the country, as well as being one of the largest players in both flour milling and animal feed milling.
URC is accelerating its growth, pursuing Agile@Scale Transformation in innovating products and services, scaling operations, and honing capabilities to future-proof the business. It will continue to serve as retailers’ partners of choice with utmost dedication and sincerity. This works in unison with realizing its vision for sustainability in bettering the company and its communities – honoring our people-first heritage and standing by our purpose to
delight consumers.
Delightfully URC
Snack-Sized Trivia
on Classic URC Treats
Filipinos love to eat, turning to a variety of classic Pinoy treats to satisfy their everyday cravings and food habits. For some, these goodies not only satisfied their taste buds but have also become a part of life’s unforgettable moments.
Chances are the classic treats you’ve grown to love include some of URC’s delightful food and drink products. Learn more about our timeless goodies with some snack-sized trivia below!
Celebrating 65 Years
Sustaining Wins. Embracing Change.
In 2021, we celebrated our 65th year in the consumer food and beverage industry.
From a humble trading business that John Gokongwei Jr. ran on his bicycle, URC has grown into one of the largest multinational companies in the ASEAN regions — with presence in Vietnam, Malaysia, Thailand, Indonesia, Myanmar, China, Singapore, Hong Kong, Laos, Cambodia, and most prominently in the Philippines.
Our roots trace back to 1956, when Mr. John opened Universal Corn Products through a loan from China Bank chairman Albino Sycip and introduced Panda Corn Syrup to Filipino consumers.
With his sights set on the future, Mr. John quickly expanded to other segments of the food business to ensure his company would flourish and later have a presence abroad.
In 1961, he and his brothers set up Consolidated Food Corporation or CFC. Soon after, the company introduced Blend 45 which became the best-selling coffee brand at the time, and later diversified into candies, wafers and other food products.
Come 1966, URC was officially born.
Universal Robina quickly dominated the snack food business, rolling out products that have become staples to this day — Chiz Curls, Chippy, Nips, and Jack ‘n Jill Potato Chips among others. Later, it added to its portfolio Nova, Pretzels, Piattos, Maxx, and Payless.
In the 1970s, URC continued expanding its portfolio by entering the agro-industrial and commodities business, venturing into hog farming and flour milling, as well as sugar milling in the 1980s. These endeavors integrated vertically with the company’s existing businesses, allowing URC to traverse volatility in the commodities market.
In 2004, URC expanded its beverage lineup with C2 ready-to-drink tea, a pivot inspired by Mr. John’s observation that bottled brewed tea sold widely across China and Japan. Since C2’s introduction to the market, URC sold 100,000 bottles a month. Only 3 years later, it was selling over 30 million bottles a month.
Thanks to Mr. John’s constant innovation, entrepreneurial zeal, and strong desire to please the customer, URC was able to plant roots in numerous ASEAN markets.
URC’s first foray abroad was via a small factory it set up in Hong Kong to produce Jack ‘n Jill Potato Chips. The company eventually set up operations in 9 other countries, with presence in 11 markets in the region.
In Thailand, we have maintained our market leadership in the biscuits category made possible with our diverse selection of products, while C2 is a strong player in the ready-to-drink (RTD) tea segment in Vietnam. URC also exports to areas in North America, Europe, the Middle East, Africa and Indian Ocean Islands, North Asia, Oceania and the Pacific Islands.
By sustaining wins and embracing change, URC remains a cornerstone of the Gokongwei group of companies.
Six and a half decades since its founding, URC continues to push boundaries to ensure the well-being of its employees, customers, and communities.
Upholding URC’s purpose, values, and ambition, the company was able to weather difficult times shadowed by the COVID-19 pandemic. Our people-first approach is part of our heritage, our identity in the present, and a guiding beacon for the future.
In 2021, we kept our factories and mills up and running. Despite the rolling lockdowns and quarantine restrictions, we made sure millions of Filipinos can stock their pantries with essential food items they need while working or sheltering at home. We sustained the livelihood of our employees and continued honing their talents.
Throughout its journey, URC stayed true to its purpose of delighting everyone — not only with good food and drink, but also with good intentions and better choices.
As we celebrate our 65th milestone, we enter the new year with a strengthened commitment to marshal on so that we can help our nation, as well as our other markets across the globe, come out of this darkness better and stronger.
Our credibility in building solid brands throughout the years made us the partner of choice up to 2021, and we hope our principles lead URC to becoming the very best in the industry for many decades to come.
Winds of Change
Oceania Divestment
URC drew its operations in Oceania to a close with the divestment of its stake in Unisnack ANZ, a leading snacks and biscuits company and home to Griffin’s Foods (Griffin’s) and Snack Brands Australia (SBA).
The journey has been truly rewarding and as such, we revisit how URC has grown the two businesses over the past seven years.
MINING MILESTONES
Venturing out into the Oceania region marked the beginning of URC’s largest forays outside of Asia, unlocking a new geographical landmark within its network through URC Oceania Co. Ltd.
The journey began in 2014 with the acquisition of Griffin’s Foods, recognized as New Zealand's largest biscuit manufacturer. It houses several
iconic brands including Griffin’s, Huntley & Palmers, Gingernuts, Nice & Natural, Eta, and Uppercuts.
Shortly after, we expanded our presence in the region with the acquisition of Snack Brands Australia in 2016. SBA is known as the second-largest salty snacks maker in Australia with a vast assortment of products to its name that includes Kettle Thins, Cheezels, CC’s, and Natural Chips.
The company saw the potential of combining these two subsidiaries to create a close synergistic relationship, founded on the businesses’ complementary portfolios. Through URC’s leadership, Griffin’s and SBA were able to flourish with notable operational improvements and value creation programs.
In 2019, a joint venture was formed with Intersnack and URC in Oceania. Intersnack was founded in Germany and has since grown to become a market leader in savory snacks with a long-standing 50-year heritage, which made for a highly collaborative and productive partnership.
DISCOVERING POSSIBILITIES
Our experience in Oceania broadened URC’s perspective on the future of food manufacturing, which brought about learnings in operational efficiencies, pathways to health and wellness, and modern trade account management. Strengthening these businesses solidified our value for adding more natural ingredients to our products, ensuring traceability of source, and providing healthy alternatives.
After establishing solid foundational improvements, we decided to monetize these investments in 2021 to refocus our efforts back on developing high-growth markets that align with URC’s core strategies and ambitions.
Ultimately, we are proud of the work we’ve done alongside our partner, Intersnack Group, and we are confident that the business will continue to thrive under their stewardship.
Solid Strides with the
Acquisition of Munchy’s Malaysia
Our Munchy’s acquisition closed in December 2021 with the purchase of 100% of the equity in Crunchy Foods Sdn Bhd, the manufacturers of the well-loved Munchy’s brand. With its strong portfolio, talented organization, and operational excellence, Munchy’s is a great strategic fit with URC — and we’re excited to see this relationship flourish.
With this accretive and sensible investment move, we hope to scale further and grow the business naturally over time.
Building on 30 years of strong brand presence
Munchy’s started in 1991 in Batu Pahat, a small town in the South of Malaysia. With just a second-hand wafer stick machine, the biscuit aficionados of the Tan family formulated what would soon become Malaysia’s number one biscuit brand.
Over the course of 30 years, Munchy’s has climbed its way to the top, venturing to new shores and delivering its home-grown biscuits and signature products to over 60 countries around the world.
From its first baked creations to its latest innovations, Munchy’s celebrated presence in the industry continues to delight customers from all walks of life — and we’re excited to share the goodness with URC’s loyal consumers.
Celebrating harmony in culture and ambitions
Upstanding awards and worldwide recognition
Munchy's strategic fit with URC
Through URC’s strong distribution network in key ASEAN markets, Munchy’s will gain scale and strengthen its footprint outside of Malaysia. At the same time, its wide product range deepened our export division’s offerings. Munchy’s strong premium brand franchise will also allow URC to further premiumize its brand image and pricing down the line.
Munchy’s scale also allowed consolidations in procurement relationships and the optimization of supply, logistics, and ad spend for better cost synergies.
Munchy’s will fuel the expansion of URC’s local capabilities in Biscuits manufacturing and distribution, producing a wider range of products locally and abroad with sufficient capacity.
The integration of Munchy’s strong leadership team is also set to cultivate further growth in URC Malaysia for years to come. With decades of diverse experience, capably maneuvering Munchy’s even through challenging times, we’re looking forward to their talent, dedication, and contributions to URC in the near future.
Purpose, Values,
and Ambition
Our North Star
The positive outcome of these strategies has been very beneficial for our organization. Now our goal is to bank on this momentum and propel URC forward.
To this end we’ve reframed and codified our Purpose, Values, and Ambition (PVA) - the center point from which all our initiatives, campaigns, and
products pivot.
Purpose
In elevating our Purpose, we aspired to expand the reach of this commitment to address the concerns of modern-day consumers.
While there are many choices in the market, people crave food that is both delicious and healthy. People’s heightened consciousness for their well-being inspired us to shift our focus towards creating tastier, accessible, and nutritious food and beverage options.
Consumers believe that food is a major agent in self-care, as well as a medium in caring for the people around them. As a company that shares this belief, our role is to empower consumers and their loved ones to have a well-balanced lifestyle. URC has the capabilities to make this possible building upon its wide variety of wholesome food selections their loved ones to have a well-balanced lifestyle. URC has the capabilities to make this possible building upon its wide variety of wholesome food selections.
URC will lead by example, showing how good food can be both healthy and delicious with the right ingredients, innovation, and effort. Our products serve a broad range of consumers with varying preferences and lifestyles, from premium to budget-savvy products.
We will make these products readily available for consumers to have quality nutrition.
With our distinct Purpose, we have a greater sense of direction to guide us in setting new goals and developing the right culture to motivate us along
the way.
Values
These four values encapsulate everything URC stands for:
Put People First
Our firm belief is that we are stronger together. When faced with challenges, everyone should have the initiative to pitch in and support each other.
Dare to Do
We take calculated risks, using innovative data points to inform our experimentation process.
In so doing, our people become trailblazers. We follow our curiosity to navigate new business landscapes. We are a team that can brave and challenge the status quo for improvement. This shared characteristic encourages our people to assess situations from different perspectives.
Own It
We believe stepping up, going beyond, and owning our contribution helps us work as one team, focused on goals that move the whole business forward.
Move Forward Fast
We are constantly learning, embracing change, and challenging each other to achieve better things, even when it means unlearning outdated things.
“Combined, these Values make up a fully synergized culture that shapes every facet of URC: its products, decisions, and behaviors.”
We hope that taking these principles to heart will also inspire personal development, confidence, and camaraderie — life-long growth and relationships that transcend the workplace.
Ambition
Ambition 2035 is best illustrated in three parts that complement our business strategies:
Our business model
• URC delivers consistent, superior returns to all of its stakeholders while caring for the environment that brings life to our business.
• We pioneer products with expansive reach developed from fully integrated systems and best-in-class capabilities.
• From our hardworking factory staff to our trusted business partners, people can count on URC to advocate strong win-win outcomes - collaborating for the good of all.
Our products
• All of URC’s food products prioritize taste and health, delighting customers around the world.
• These products lead within multiple markets by being both accessible and affordable.
• Every brand has a deep connection with consumers through variety and interactive experiences.
• We maintain global standards of quality, including non-food items, while supporting our no-waste agenda to achieve a net-zero impact on the planet.
Our people
• URC is a global organization that stays true to its values.
• We foster an open, remote, and fluid work dynamic with a network of productive teams.
• URC empowers each one of us to create innovative solutions and work to our full potential.
Winning Together
It has been a joy to hear how tenured members and partners of our community strongly resonate with URC’s updated shared identity. New members have also developed a better appreciation for what the company stands for, helping them understand their role on a deeper level.
We are certain that our PVA, coupled with our business strategies, will open new opportunities for URC to flourish.
Branded Consumer Foods (BCF)
Agro-Industrial &
Commodities (AIC)
