Philippines

The Philippines' largest fast food chain has also set a date for the opening of their first site in the UK. Jollibee Foods Corporation (JFC) has announced that they entered a 50/50 joint venture agreement with American-based Panda Restaurant Group to bring the Chinese restaurant brand Panda Express to the Philippines.

The group will be joining the likes of Jollibee Foods Corp. and Shakey’s Asia Pizza Ventures Inc. in the local stock exchange.

The globalising fast food giant will buy a 47% stake in the chain for US$12.4 million.

The move is part of their goal in launching 50 international outlets by 2020.

The new concept features a modernized look while paying homage to Japanese teahouse architecture.

This is the American chicken chain’s first major master franchise development agreement in Asia.

The brand started in January 2017 at a food park in Pasig City.

The pizza chain is expanding to the Middle East. Shakey’s Pizza Asia Ventures, operator of the Philippines’ single largest restaurant chain, has opened its first store in Dubai, expanding its footprint in the Middle East where it is leveraging on the large population of Filipinos in the region for future growth.

The New York brand is making its first entry into Southeast Asia.

The Philippine-based coffee chain shelved its foreign expansion plans until 2020.

The leading Philippine quick service group also announced additional sites in new markets.

The Korean chain recently opened their biggest store in the country so far.

The Filipino fast food chain says the country is a significant part of their North American expansion plan.

Nanyang started to offer Asian offerings this month. Breadtalk Group-owned Toast Box has closed its Philippine sites after a decade of operations. “We want to take this opportunity to sincerely thank you for your patronage for the past 10 years. It has been a privilege and a delight serving you,” the announcement stated in their branches in Manila.

The country’s largest fast food operator is suspected to be engaged in labor-only contracting. The Philippines’ Department of Labor and Employment named 20 companies that they claim or suspect to engage in labor-only contracting, depriving employees of security of tenure. In a report by ABS-CBN News, Jollibee is listed as having topped the list, with 14,960 "affected" workers. The labor department previously ordered Jollibee and subsidiary Burger King, to regularize about 7,000 workers, prior to Philippine president Rodrigo Duterte signing an executive order to stop “endo” or hiring workers in 5-month-long cycles.  

The Philippine fast food chain bagged a total of seven trophies for their campaign. After pulling the heartstrings of their customers, Jollibee’s 2017 “Valentine’s Joy for the Heartbroken” series garnered recognition from marketing communicators from Asia-Pacific.