Jollibee plans more US stores

MANILA, Philippines – Homegrown Jollibee Foods Corp. (JFC), now the largest food company in Asia, will continue to expand outside the region with plans to establish stores in Chicago in the US,  its top official said.

“We are going to Chicago in July. We are also in Canada,” JFC chairman Tony Tan Caktiong said in a briefing following the company’s annual stockholders meeting yesterday.

The goal is to put up 200 new stores in the Philippines this year and around 80 to 100 stores abroad.

The company has more than doubled its capital expenditures for the year to P10.4 billion to further expand its network.

“We plan to build 200 new stores (in the Philippines) in 2016,” said JFC chief executive officer Ernesto Tanmantiong.

To support the fast growing business, the company also plans to build three new commissary facilities and expand its existing commissary in Canlubang, Laguna.

Of the P10.4 billion capex, P7.5 billion will be for stores, of which P5 billion will be used for new stores while the remaining P2.5 billion will be used for new commissaries.

Tanmantiong said 70 percent of the planned new stores will rise in Visayas and Mindanao.

For its international expansion, the company is on the lookout for acquisition opportunities in China and the US.

Tan Caktiong said they are interested in brands that have a potential to grow.“

 In China, JFC is targeting to add around 20 to 40 stores this year to its network of 400 stores.

As of the end of April, JFC had 652 stores outside the country. It has a 50 percent interest in several joint ventures such as Highlands Coffee, Ph 24, Hotpot and a 40 percent interest in US burger giant Smashburger.

In the Philippines, it operates 2,506 restaurant outlets in the country or 930 Jollibee stores, 449 Chowking, 236 Greenwich, 373 Red Ribbon, 457 Mang Inasal and 61 Burger King.