Jollibee boosts presence in Singapore  

MANILA, Philippines — The Jollibee Group has strengthened its presence in Singapore with the opening of its first-ever drive-thru location.

The new store,  which opened at Caltex Jurong Spring station last Sept. 19, marks Jollibee’s 20th store in Singapore.

It is also the first AI-assisted drive-thru store in Europe, the Middle East, and Asia (excluding the Philippines) region, with menu boards that have varied product offerings based on availability.

Dennis Flores, president of Jollibee Europe, Middle East, Asia and Australia (EMEAA) said customers were very receptive to the Singapore drive-thru store.

“This milestone coincides with our 10th anniversary in Singapore, during which time we have expanded from a single outlet in Lucky Plaza to 20 stores across the country, growing our consumer base from serving primarily Filipinos, to now serving the mainstream Singaporean market who compose a predominant majority of our customers today,” he said.

Prior to the opening of Singapore’s first drive-thru store, Jollibee also opened in Malaysia, where the brand opened its 10th location in the country at the Kuala Lumpur International Airport.

The Jollibee brand opened 38 stores globally in the first half of the year. Of this number, 23 stores were opened outside the Philippines.

Jollibee has been aggressively expanding globally as it aims to be among the top five restaurant companies in the world.

At present, the Jollibee Group has eight wholly owned brands (Jollibee, Chowking, Greenwich, Red Ribbon, Mang Inasal, Yonghe King, Hong Zhuang Yuan, Smashburger); and four franchised brands (Burger King, Panda Express, and Yoshinoya in the Philippines, and Tim Ho Wan in certain territories in China).

It also has 80 percent ownership of The Coffee Bean and Tea Leaf; 60 percent ownership in the SuperFoods Group that owns Highlands Coffee; and 51 percent ownership of Milksha, a popular Taiwanese bubble tea brand. JFC also has a business venture with award-winning Chef Rick Bayless for Tortazo, a Mexican fast-casual restaurant business in the United States.