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

Here is a summary of the most interesting QSR news stories of the week from around the world.

Find out what QSRs have been up to on social media this week.

The new sustainability initiative will start next month. In an effort to contribute to a sustainable environment, all Starbucks Hong Kong stores will remove disposable plastic utensils from the condiment bars and only provide them on request starting from July 4. The global coffee brand will officially launch the policy at its new Causeway Bay store this month, and applies for both in-store and takeaway orders. New flagship site Coinciding with this announcement is their new Lee Garden store that they are billing as their first flagship site. Opening on June 22, it is set to be the largest single-story Starbucks cafe in Hong Kong at 5500 square feet, and will feature the city’s first Teavana Bar, an expanded menu and a Starbucks Reserve selection. Following the successful launch of coffee-infused craft beers at the Starbucks IFC Mall store last March, a coffee-inspired cocktail will also make its debut at the flagship’s exclusive Mixology Bar. (Photo credit: Starbucks Hongkong Facebook page)

This is the first café in the island-nation themed after the Sanrio character. My Melody Café has opened its first-ever site in Singapore, located at the Suntec City Mall. Themed after the popular Sanrio character My Melody, the café (as reported by Channel News Asia) features a floral arch, garden-themed mural wall and a cottage house. The menu, meanwhile, will offer five mains, six desserts, and seven character-customised drinks.  

The soon-to-open coffee shop-style outlet is located at Clarke Quay. Tsui Wah has announced that it will open its first site in Singapore on June 15, in accordance with its partnership with Jumbo Group. The site is a cha chan teng (coffee shop-style) outlet that will be able to accommodate more than 140 customers, who will be able to avail of the Hong Kong chain’s signature items, which includes their milk tea, crispy bun with condensed milk and curries. Last March saw Jumbo F&B Services Pte. Ltd enteringinto a franchise agreement through a joint venture with Kang Wang Holdings Limited, a wholly-owned subsidiary of Tsui Wah Holdings Limited in order to work together in expanding Hong Kong-style Cha Chaan Teng under the Tsui Wah brand into Singapore. (Also read: Jumbo Group debuts Tsui Wah into Southeast Asia)

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.

Here is a summary of the most interesting QSR news stories of the week from around the world. Starbucks recently closed 8,000 stores for a day to conduct racial bias training to around 175,000 employees, following an incident in Philadelphia where two black men were arrested at a store while waiting for a friend because they did not order.

Find out what QSRs have been up to on social media. BRAND AND STORE UPDATES

They will do this through a joint venture with Shenzhen Pindao.

It is now the coffee brand’s biggest store in the country.

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.  

Customers at cafés and restaurants may soon place their orders in a machine via voice. With the aim of enhancing the customer experience, Alibaba launched its “smart ordering” system – featuring software where order placements are addressed to a machine via voice recognition technology. The new innovation from Alibaba Machine Intelligence Technologies boasts that the machine’s AI is able make as many order changes or corrections to update the order in real time.

Here is a summary of the most interesting QSR news stories of the week from around the world.

Find out what QSRs have been up to on social media.

Customers of the dining group’s eight restaurants can indulge in their special offers.