Jollibee Group brings back Coffee Bean & Tea Leaf to New York, opens Smashburger in Boston

Homegrown fast-food giant Jollibee Foods Corp. (JFC) has brought back The Coffee Bean and Tea Leaf (CBTL) to New York City.

In a statement, JFC said the CBTL was brought to New York through its franchisee Hudson River Coffee and Tea. The coffee shop opened last August 28. 

In the same month, JFC said it opened a Smashburger store in Boston.

“We are thrilled to bring back The Coffee Bean and Tea Leaf to New York and debut our latest store design for Smashburger in Boston. We are happy to see that these two openings were met with very strong reception from local patrons despite the pandemic. This is a good indication that consumers will continue supporting brands that serve quality, great-tasting food and beverages,” Jollibee Group CEO Ernesto Tanmantiong said.

“Our North America business continues to outperform the US QSR (quick service restaurant) industry. Smashburger has been double digit positive for the past three months across company owned stores with its online sales growing by 390%, while The Coffee Bean and Tea Leaf brand has steadily grown since April despite the impact of the pandemic,” Jollibee Group president for North America Rowel Vijandre said.

“The Philippine brands – Jollibee, Chowking, and Red Ribbon – have also performed well with Jollibee even seeing long queues with its recent openings. We thank our customers for patronizing our brands and we hope they'll continue to support our future openings,” Vijandre said.

In September 2019, JFC acquired CBTL for $350 million.

The company acquired Smashburger for $10 million in 2018.

The Jollibee Group earlier shared its plans to open 338 stores worldwide on a very selective basis and in strategic locations across its brands to strengthen the business for the long-term. 

The company said it expects The Coffee Bean and Tea Leaf brand’s performance to improve further by the fourth quarter of 2020 and become profitable by 2021. 

The company also said it is targeting to make Smashburger profitable by 2021. —Ted Cordero/KG, GMA News