Jollibee opens first-ever Tim Ho Wan in Shanghai

MANILA, Philippines — The Jollibee Group opened its first ever Tim Ho Wan in Shanghai last week, marking the entry of the Michelin starred restaurant in one of the world’s largest economies.

The Shanghai branch is a starting point for the brand’s expansion in mainland China where the company plans to open 100 Tim Ho Wan stores in the next five years, said Jollibee Group CEO Ernesto Tanmantiong.

“The core of Tim Ho Wan is to serve delicious authentic Hong Kong dim sum to more people at a good value for money, and this is why we believe that Tim Ho Wan is a great addition to the Jollibee Group’s portfolio,” Tanmantiong said.

Shanghai is home to 24 million people and is one of the most populous city centers of the world.

“Given the response we are seeing, we are planning to open the second store by the end of this year. Aside from Shanghai, we will also open in Beijing, Shenzhen, and Guangzhou,” said Jollibee Foods Corp. China chairman Carl Tancaktiong.

Jollibee Group earlier entered into a joint venture agreement with the Tim Ho Wan Group to open and operate Tim Ho Wan restaurants in mainland China.

Tim Ho Wan is a dim sum restaurant chain which originated in Hong Kong in 2009. Its Hong Kong restaurant has been awarded one Michelin star since 2010.

It adds to JFC’s three brands serving Chinese cuisine.

These include Chowking, a Chinese fast casual concept with presence mostly in the Philippines and JFC’s third largest brand in terms of system wide sales, Yonghe King, a Chinese fast food restaurant chain in China that is famous for its freshly prepared soya milk and Hong Zhuang Yuan, a full-service Chinese restaurant chain in Beijing, PRC famous for its congee.

The three brands combined account for close to 20 percent of JFC’s systemwide sales.