The Jollibee Legacy

When it comes to fast food chains here in the Philippines, the Jollibee Food Corporation is among of the best that can sate every Filipino’s hunger for American and Philippine cuisine. The Jollibee Food Corporation is an American-style fast-food restaurant with Filipino-influenced dishes specializing in chicken, burgers, spaghetti and some local Filipino dishes.

Today, the Jollibee Food Corporation is currently the biggest fast-food restaurant in the Philippines. Jollibee Food Corporation also extends its popularity on among of the biggest countries such as the United States, Saudi Arabia, Hong Kong, Vietnam, Indonesia, Dubai and Brunei.

As of December 2007, Jollibee has become one of the biggest fast-food chains in the world with 1,635 stores worldwide and total sales of more than $1 billion. As of February, 2008, Jollibee Food Corporation has 1,385 stores in the Philippines namely, Jollibee which has 625 stores, Chowking which has 376 stores, Greenwich Pizza which has 237 stores, Red Ribbon Bakeshop which has 192 stores, Délifrance which has 27 stores and Tio Pepe which has 2 stores. It had 186 stores overseas.

All of this has happened through the time when we first ate at a nearby Jollibee store. But have you ever asked where all of this success started? Well here is a little trip down memory lane of a man that never knew his business will grow to be the biggest fast food chain of all time, the Jollibee Food Corporation.

Tony Tan Caktiong and his family opened a Magnolia Ice Cream parlor at Cubao in 1975 with Jolibe as the original name. Sometime in 1978, Tony Tan Caktiong and his brothers and sisters, being partners, engaged the services of a management consultant in the person of Manuel C. Lumba. Lumba, now Caktiong’s personal consultant, shifted the business focus from ice cream to hamburgers, after his studies showed that a much larger market was waiting to be exploited.

Lumba next re-formed the name Jolibe to Jolly Bee and made the two words form a single name Jollibee, but changed the “y” to an “i” Lumba next created the product name “Yumburger” as well as the name “Chickenjoy”.

Lumba also formulated a long-term marketing strategy, listing up a number of consumer promotions and traffic building schemes. Tony Tan stressed that developing internal strengths was critical. The stores were re-designed, the service transformed into a full self-service, fast-food operation with drive thrus.
Not long after, Tony Tan and Manny Lumba went on an observation tour in the United States, attended food service and equipment conventions. Tony Tan placed Manny Lumba in charge of franchise development. Thus creating the Jollibee Food Corporation.