Jollibee opens first store in Rome

MANILA, Philippines — Jollibee Foods Corp., the Filipino-owned Asian food conglomerate, is taking a bite of La Dolce Vita with the opening of its first store in Rome, Italy.

The Jollibee store, which opened in Via Ottaviano – a stone’s throw away from St. Peter’s Square, Vatican City – marks JFC’s entry into Rome, known as the top cultural capital of the world.

The expansion in Rome gives the brand an opportunity to cater to thousands of Filipinos living in the city. It also introduced JFC’s menu to the local Italian community in Rome.

Jollibee Rome served over 4,000 pieces of ChickenJoy on the first day alone while Yumburger and Jolly Spaghetti were sold in thousands.

Like its other openings around the world, Jollibee’s opening in Rome drew long lines of customers while following physical distancing safety measures.

Jollibee Group CEO Ernesto Tanmantiong said the opening of the group’s first Jollibee store in Rome is a milestone for the Asian food conglomerate.

“Ever since our opening in Milan, we saw that there was a huge demand for Jollibee here in Italy and our succeeding openings in the United Kingdom show the appeal of Jollibee in other parts of Europe as well. We are excited to bring Jollibee’s ChickenJoy, other flavorful bestsellers, and the Jollibee experience to more people as we expand in this region,” Tanmantiong said.

The Rome location marks the fourth Jollibee branch in Europe.

Jollibee currently has over 1,400 stores across the globe, with more stores scheduled to open this year as part of the group’s strategy to selectively open 338 new stores in strategic locations.