“Sari Roti, roti, Sari Roti.” The jingle of Sari Roti bread recognized by many on the streets across Indonesia may soon be heard in the Philippines.

Publicly listed bread maker Nippon Indosari Corpindo, which sells Sari Roti bread, is looking to build a new factory in the Philippines.

The move puts the firm on the list of many Indonesian companies that have begun tapping into the Philippines’ foreign direct investment (FDI).

Alfamart minimarket and Salim Group’s investment firm First Pacific Co. Ltd. are already there. First Pacific currently controls large shares in major sugar producer Roxas Holdings Inc. and miner Philex Mining Corp.

State-owned lender Bank Mandiri also hopes to join the bandwagon as it seeks entrance into the neighboring country’s financial services industry.

The Philippines’ economy is among the top-performing in the Southeast Asia region, with FDI having risen to a record high of US$5.7 billion last year, surging by 54 percent in just two years.

Its gross domestic product (GDP) hovered between 5.8 percent and 7 percent from 2012 to 2015, according to data from the World Bank.

“We see the Philippines as the second-largest country in ASEAN with more than 100 million people,” said Sari Roti president director Alex Chin on Wednesday during the 2016 Investor Day at the Indonesia Stock Exchange (IDX).

“Its demographic is similar to Indonesia, with 60 percent of its population under the age 30, and they have a similar lifestyle to Indonesians. Many people are shifting to convenient packaged food.”

In February, Sari Roti entered into a $6.8 million-worth business deal with Philippine food producer and distributor Monde Nissin Corporation to form Sarimonde Foods Corp., a joint venture to pave the way for the expansion.

Sari Roti owns the majority, 55 percent of the venture, and hopes to start operating the factory late next year.

In Indonesia, it already has 10 factories in Java, Sulawesi and Sumatra, with total production volume of 4.2 million pieces of bread every day. It reaped Rp 2.17 trillion ($165.17 million) from sales of white bread and flavored bread last year.

Alfamart, meanwhile, has been running operations in the Philippines since 2014. It began with 20 stores and now runs 137 stores. It has set aside $2.5 million to open more stores, hoping to operate 200 outlets in 2016.

“Response from the [Philippine] market this year is pretty good, it’s as expected. Some areas have given very positive responses, so we’re confident about opening more branches there,” Alfamart international business and technology director Bambang Setyawan Djojo said.

Bambang added that the country had more relaxed regulations compared to other neighboring countries.

Meanwhile, jamu [herbal drink] producer Sido Muncul is already marketing its Tolak Angin herbal supplement, while pharmaceutical firm Kalbe Farma is offering its Extra Joss energy drink.

Sido Muncul is preparing its first sales representative office in the Philippines and has partnered with Filipino boxer Manny “Pacman” Pacquiao to advertise Tolak Angin.

“As a boxer I sometimes get kabuhi. Sorry, sorry, kabuhi in Indonesian is masuk angin [common cold]. I take Tolak Angin Sido Muncul when I get masuk angin in America,” says Pacman in a script for a Tolak Angin ad.

Sido Muncul president director Irwan Hidayat said the herbal supplement was popular in the Philippines because masuk angin was common in ASEAN.

Philippine firms, on the other hand, have been tapping the Indonesian market for quite some time. Giant web market place Lazada and beer maker San Miguel have enjoyed increased shares in Southeast Asia’s largest economy.

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