The typical Filipino childhood would not be complete without experiencing Jollibee and its flavors. While Aga Mulach had popularized the “Chicken Joy” to a-whole-nother level ( it was already pretty good before he campaigned for it), the Jollibee menu is also filled with interesting pickings. The Spaghetti is a unique Filipino concoction – we prefer our Spaghetti sweet, for some reason. And Jollibee comes with hotdog bites, too!
And the dessert section is home to some really good pies. Their Peach-Mango combo is easily the most popular.
Family Day is also usually a Jollibee day. Many Filipino families, especially those who belong in the middle class, troop to the nearest Jollibee branch after attending the Holy Mass on Sundays, a practice that has been passed on to new generations.
Indeed, this Pinoy food titan has gone a long way since it first started its journey.
Jollibee’s single greatest accomplishment is that it has thoroughly dominated the competition among multinational fast-food chains like McDonalds, Wendy’s and Burger King (in the Philippines).
The first Jollibee restaurant was located beside the Quezon Bridge, near Quiapo Market. It was in a tiny 30 square-meter space, which had been previously abandoned, and was therefore low-cost. The signboard was made out of plywood, humbly painted and had one purpose – to say that this was Jollibee.
Along the sidewalk fronting the restaurant was a barker, who enticed passers-by to try their hamburgers for merely 2.75 Pesos (a local competitor, Tropical Hut, sold hamburgers for 4.50 Pesos).
The following years, Jollibee branched out in a gradual manner. But in 1978, McDonald’s opened at the corner of CM Recto and Morayta in Manila’s University Belt. In 1979, Jollibee opened its first franchised restaurant at Ronquillo, Quiapo, Manila, which was an almost exact replica of the McDonald’s restaurant.
In the coming years, the two fought tit for tat in opening more franchises, with Jollibee winning out eventually, maybe, because of lower franchise fee, and have no royalties to be paid to a mother company.
In 1984, Jollibee entered the top 500 Philippine Corporations, and topped the local food industry. It opened its first overseas store in Taiwan in 1986. In 1992, its sales reached 3.4 billion Pesos, and it expanded overseas aggressively.
In 2002, its revenues neared 27 billion Peso mark. This year, its founder, Tony Tan Caktiong was named “Management Man of the Year” of the Philippines, with stores already numbering about 900. Mang Inasal’s 70% equity was bought by Jollibee Corporation in 2010 for 3 billion Pesos.
To strengthen its hold in the fast-food field in the Philippines, it gobbled and bought diversified competitors, – Chowking with 377 franchises, Greenwich Pizza with 236, Red Ribbon Bakeshop with 194, Delifrance’s 28 branches, Manong Pepe’s 4 and Mang Inasal’s 500.
Now, it has more than 2,000 stores, and still expanding at a brisk phase. But still, it’s the Bee that remains the face of this Filipino Food Empire.
