The Jollibee Family

by Christine Layug

Jollibee is one of the biggest fast-food chains in the Philippines. It was also considered one of the largest fast-food chains in the world, rivaling that of other international fast-food restaurants such as McDonald's, Wendy's, and Burger King. The restaurant have also expanded to numerous countries across the world including: Brunei, China, Hong Kong, Indonesia, Malaysia, Saudi Arabia, Taiwan, UAE, Vietnam, and more importantly in the US.

However, the success of Jollibee Foods Corporation (JFC) weren't only because of their signature brand, but also because of their expansions through other fast food restaurants. Other than their own signature brand and segment (hamburgers and fries), JFC also owns other segments of food service through other popular names of the food service industry. This includes Red Ribbon Bakery, Chowking, Greenwich Pizza, and Délifrance.

Chowking ang Greenwich are the first acquisition that JFC when they started their expansions. It was in 1994 that the company acquired 80% of Greenwich Pizza, enabling JFC to penetrate the pizza-pasta segment. From 50 stores, Greenwich established a strong presence in the food service industry, with over 240 stores and an annual revenue of over P4 billion in 2005. However, it was only in 2006 that JFC fully owned Greenwich Pizza. This was 6 years after JFC acquired Chowking.

On January 1, 2000, Chowking became a wholly owned subsidiary of Jollibee Foods Corporation. Chowking pioneered the Asian quick-service restaurant concept in the Philippines. Through this acquisition, JFC have penetrated the oriental dish segment, which was a popular food service in the past.

In 2005 and 2006 that JFC have simultaneously acquired two brands of popular bakeshops in the Philippines, the Red Ribbon Bakery and Délifrance. It was in 2005 that JFC acquired Red Ribbon Bakery, a popular bakeshop based in the Philippines that closely competes with Goldilocks Bakery. Another is Délifrance, which is a popular French-inspired bakeshop that allowed JFC to penetrated a growing market in the industry.

Through these acquisitions, JFC steadily grew to one of the most successful corporation in the Philippines. But other than local acquisitions, reports indicated that JFC have also acquired other fast-food restaurants outside of the country. In 2007, Jollibee acquired the Chinese fast-food chain Hong Zhuang Yuan.

Jollibee purchased 70% of Taipei restaurant Lao Dong in June and Chun Shui Tang tea house in 2006. In 2004, Jollibee acquired Chinese fast food chain Yonghe Dawang for $22.5 million. Jollibee entered into a joint-venture contract with US-based Chow Fun Holdings LLC, the developer and owner of Jinja Bar Bistro in New Mexico, in which Jollibee will have a 12% stake for $950,000. For more information visit to our site at http://www.expressregalo.com.

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