Malaysia-based restaurant chain OldTown White Coffee has expanded its presence in the Philippines by debuting its brick-and-mortar store in Caloocan, Manila.

According to a report by Inside Retail, the new store is located in the city’s SM City Grand Central shopping mall.

It has been opened as part of OldTown White Coffee’s strategy to expand its footprint in the international market.

Retail News Asia reported that the new store in Manila is the restaurant chain’s fourth international location.

Its first three international store locations are in Singapore, Indonesia and Hong Kong.

The new store in the Philippines has now joined other restaurant brands at the shopping centre, including The Coffee Bean & Tea Leaf, Tealive, CoCo Fresh Tea & Juice and WouldULike Speciality Coffee.

OldTown White Coffee has nearly 200 outlets across Malaysia.

The coffee brand’s focus is now on increasing outlets across Malaysia during the second half of the current year. This plan includes the addition of at least 50 more stores in the country.

The upcoming stores in Malaysia will primarily focus on the country’s eastern and northern urban regions.

According to the Retail News Asia report,  OldTown White Coffee is the newest brand to enter the Philippines market in the past year.

Prior to this, Paris-based boutique café group Café Kitsuné and South Korean value-focused Paik’s Coffee made their entry into the country.

In 2017, OldTown White Coffee was purchased by the Netherlands-based beverage company JDE Peet’s in a $361m deal.