Jollibee Philippines

Success in any industry is acheived by a variety of factors, amount of capital, market segment targeting, values held by company founders and the type of people who are hired has a big impact as well. Still, something that many companies lack to take them to the next level is the organizational structure that allows the right people to be in the right place. There’s a saying that goes: First you gotta have the right people on the bus. Then you gotta make sure each person on the bus is sitting the right seat that’s designed specifically for their unique strengths. Only then do you worry about where the bus is going.

I believe that Jollibee had the same idea when they introduced a host of changes to their business beginning in 1994. These changes were mostly focused on creating more structure and taking advantage of more resources. First of all, they hired Tony Kitchner, the first outsider vice-president to handle their international operations. This was a key move to separate Jollibee International from Jollibee Philippines. They introduced FSM’s, known as Franchise Services Managers to help keep their franchise owners abreast of the new changes. These changes were aimed at creating a “world class” view, and you could see some of the changes visibly through the newly differentiated logo to the new packaging. They also instituted a dress code change as well as began to recruit from outside.

Overall, these changes certainly kept Jollibee ahead of the game, as 10 years in the future, their success would be so great as to garner the Entrepreneur of the Year Award by Ernst & Young for founder Tony Tan Caktiong.

Read more about Jollibee Corporation in the Philippines.

Learn some more at Jollibee Philippines.

In the Philippines, the term fast food is pretty much synonymous with the Jollibee brand. It took more than just one man for it to become that way, but all it took to start was a man name Tony Tan Caktiong. The humble beginning for Tony was working with his father to operate a kitchen in Fujian, China. In 1975, Tony began his entreprenuerial journey with simply a pair of two ice cream parlors in Cubao, Quezon City.

Despite his success with the ice cream parlors, Tony didn’t stop there. He looked around the world and saw the kind of success chains like McDonalds were having. Instead of opening a franchise for an existing fast food chain like Burger King or Wendy’s, he decided to expand with the opening of his own chain of hamburger-serving fast food restaurants named Jollibee in 1978.

Since McDonald’s hadn’t yet entered into the Philippines, Tony capitalized on this fact by establishing his brand among the Filipino people. Instead of trying to learn everything from scratch, Tony traveled to the United States to learn the tricks of the trade from the already established chains such as McDonalds. By implementing these tried and true business practices back in the Phlippines, Tony’s hard work began to pay off when his business began to rapidly expand. The division of Jollibee Philippines really tries to serve the specific needs of the Filipino people and its culture by focusing its product development as well as its marketing and advertsing to target the unique and traditional Filipino family.

Today Tony Tan Caktiong serves as a success story and a role model for entreprenuers around the world. This was solified in 2004 when Tony was voted the Entrepreneur of the Year by Ernst & Young. The chairman of Ernst and Young, James S. Turley said, “These awards are about celebrating global entrepreneurship and the desire to continually innovate and expand. Tony’s story is a truly inspirational one, on both these counts. We are delighted he has been selected to receive this year’s award.”

Interested in more? Read about the History of Jollibee in the Philippines.

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When I think of Jollibee, usually all I can think about is the mouth watering Yumburgers or ChickenJoy. But in reality, it takes so much more than just food to make Jollibee. If you’re curious about business operations for both the Jollibee Philippines division as well as Jollibee International, then hopefully this article will help out a little bit.

Acquistions in the Philippines

The corporation is actually known as Jollibee Foods Corporation. Oh and if you thought that Jollibee was the only fast food chain operated by this coporation, boy are you in for a surprise. To me, it seems like JFC owns a majority stake in all of the Filipino fast food niches. Do you ever eat at Chow King? I know I love the halo-halo there, but did you know that in the year 2000, JFC acquired Chowking! That’s right, all the delicious oriental style fast food from Chow King is operated at a high level by the same corporation as Jollibee. Oh and that’s not all. Seems like Jollibee Foods Corporation has the idea that diversification is key to its future, and I think they’re on the right track. JFC also bought out the popular fast food pizza restaurant known as Greenwich Pizza. Additionally, in 2005, Red Ribbon Bakery became part of JFC. Keeping with the baking theme, JFC acquired the French cafe and bakery known as Delifrance. The division of JFC that handles business inside of the Philippines is known as Jollibee Philippines.

Acquisitions outside of the Philippines

JFC has holdings in several other Asian countries including China and Taiwan. There’s a Chinese fast food chain named Yonghe King in mainland China (based in Shanghai) that is owned and operated by JFC. Another Chinese restaurant chain named Hongzhuangyuan was acquired on September 21, 2007. This chain has 33 locations in Beijing and was purchased for the amount of US $50.5 million.

Wow! I sure was surpised when I learned about all those acquisitions. It’s interesting to note that when I walk into any of the chains above that they’re owned and operated by the same corporation. I’m glad that Jollibee has a great track record with the Filipino community and that in addition to the amazing Jollibee stores in the Philippines, they can offer us a variety of  different foods ranging from pizza, oriental food, coffee and baked goods. Yum!

Want to read more about the History of Jollibee in the Philippines?

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