Jollibee takes 100% ownership of Smashburger

MANILA, Philippines — Filipino-owned Asian food conglomerate Jollibee Foods Corp. has taken 100 percent ownership of Colorado-based Smashburger, a famous casual burger brand.

JFC announced yesterday that its wholly owned subsidiary Bee Good Inc.  acquired Smashburger MasterLL’s 15 percent stake in SJBF LLC, the parent company of Smashburger. JFC paid $10 million for the remaining 15 percent stake.

The acquisition brings JFC’s ownership in Smashburger to 100 percent after earlier acquiring an 85 percent stake.

JFC started with just around 40 percent and grew this to 85 percent as the acquisition of more shares in Smashburger allows it to have a more significant business in the US.

Smashburger serves fresh 100 percent certified Angus beef burgers. It currently has 351 restaurants.

Outside the US, it has a presence in Panama, Costa Rica, Canada, Kuwait, Saudi Arabia, England and Egypt.

The acquisition is expected to help the company achieve its target of having a 50:50 revenue contribution from overseas and domestic stores by 2023.

About 30 percent of the group’s revenues currently come from stores overseas.

“We look forward to the development of Smashburger into a very strong brand and business in the US. It has excellent products created mostly by Mr. Tom Ryan,” said JFC chairman Tony Tan Caktiong.

JFC also plans to bring Smashburger to Asia, starting in the Philippines, JFC CEO Ernesto Tanmantiong  said.

“We will bring it to Asia. We don’t have a definite plan yet, probably we will in two years,” he said.

The expansion in Asia will start in the Philippines, to be followed by Singapore and then in other countries in the region, Tanmantiong also said.

JFC aims to be among the top five food companies in the world.