About Us

Universal Robina Corporation (URC) is one of the largest branded consumer food and beverage product companies in the Philippines. It has a significant and growing presence in the PAN-ASEAN markets with its recent expansion in New Zealand and Australia through the acquisition of Griffin’s Foods, the number one snack-foods company in New Zealand, and Consolidated Snacks Pty Ltd (Snackbrands), Australia’s second largest salty snacks company. URC is among the Philippines’ pioneers in the industry. It has been in operation for over 50 years since John Gokongwei, Jr. established Universal Corn Products, Inc., a cornstarch manufacturing plant in Pasig, in 1954.

URC is engaged in a wide variety of businesses. Its core branded consumer foods group includes manufacturing and distribution of snack-foods, beverages, and grocery products. In the Philippines, the company is also into food ingredients (flour milling, sugar milling, and refining) and allied agro-industrial products (hog farming, animal feed milling, glucose, soya products, and veterinary compounds). URC has also invested in ancillary segments mainly focusing on renewable sources of energy to further add value and process by-products to produce biogas, fuel-grade bio-ethanol, and power (biomass cogeneration).

URC is the leading branded snack-foods and beverage company in the Philippines. URC—the first “Philippine Pan ASEAN Multinational”—has proven itself to be a trailblazer in manufacturing with a strong and loyal consumer base. The company has unswervingly showcased its innovation and excellence through its groundbreaking products, wide distribution network, and effective marketing. This is also evident in URC’s formidable market leadership in snack-foods and beverages. To continue addressing the ever-changing wants of its consumers, the company has formed joint ventures with Calbee and Danone, offering new and innovative formats, exciting flavors, and on-the-go and better-for-you (BFY) products.

John Gokongwei, Jr. established a vision for URC: to become one of the leading PAN-Asian players in snack-foods and beverages. This vision is gradually being realized as URC has managed to transform itself from a Philippine operation to a recognized PAN-Asian multinational with full scale operations in nine countries outside the Philippines, and now formalizing the distribution agreements in Laos and Cambodia. In addition, URC’s products are already being exported to mainstream markets in the USA, Europe, Japan, Korea, Australia, the Middle East, and frontier markets in West Africa like Ghana and Nigeria.

URC has built three strong regional brands over the years—Jack ‘n Jill for snack-foods, C2 for ready-to-drink tea, and Great Taste for coffee—that have become popular across the ASEAN region. Now, it’s looking to add Griffin’s and Nice & Natural in its mega brands. URC’s key to success is to build very strong branding through a robust product innovation pipeline, consumer-centric marketing, and world-class manufacturing and supply chain management. URC will continue to transform itself in line with the changing global consumer trends and increasing opportunities in a unified ASEAN economy and beyond.