Incorporated in 1978, Jollibee, dubbed as the Philippines’ McDonald’s, started as a simple ice cream parlor. When American fast-food chain McDonald’s announced its plan to enter the Philippine market, Jollibee added hot meals to its menu. Instead of fearing McDo might put them out of business, the company introduced ‘chickenjoy’, their now world-famous fried chicken.
Jollibee menu also includes their popular sweet spaghetti and halo-halo. The latter is a mixture of crushed ice, milk, and various ingredients including sweetened beans, bananas, seaweed gelatin, and flan.
Global Dominance
Jollibee has now become one of the world’s largest restaurant franchises with more than 4,000 stores in 23 countries. In the United States, Jollibee has 37 stores in total including one near Manhattan’s Times Square. The company aims to join the “top five restaurant companies in the world”.
Jollibee Foods Corp. also acquires brands globally as part of its strategy to grow its business and expands its presence. So far, the company owns 14 global brands. Recently, Jollibee purchased stakes in U.S.-based companies Smashburger and Tortas Frontera. These acquisitions give them “a bigger media footprint into the North American market, and a push into becoming one of the biggest companies in the world,” Arthur Dong, professor of strategy and economics at Georgetown’s McDonough School of Business said.
The grand opening of Jollibee’s store in Manhattan was a huge success with some customers lining up for 20 hours. Dong said, “it’s perfect because rather than putting a billboard up to advertise their brand, Times Square is like a billboards haven itself”.
U.S. and Canada Expansion
Executives at Jollibee said it plans to open 150 stores in the U.S., and 100 stores in Canada over the next 5 years. “This is our entry into the mainstream, not just Filipino, market — we are catering to a bigger spectrum, and want to keep strengthening our foothold both in the U.S. and globally,” Ernesto Tanmantiong, Jollibee’s CEO and younger brother of founder Tony Tan Caktiong, said.
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