Jollibee forms joint venture, eyes 120 stores in West Malaysia

Homegrown fast-food giant Jollibee Foods Corp. (JFC) on Thursday announced it is forming a joint venture company that will operate its stores in West Malaysia, which covers the country’s capital, Kuala Lumpur.

West Malaysia or the Malaysian Peninsula is the southern tip of mainland Southeast Asia’s Malay Peninsula.

In a disclosure to the Philippine Stock Exchange, JFC said its Singapore-based wholly-owned subsidiary, Golden Plate Pte. Ltd. (GPPL) entered into an agreement with Beeworks Investment Pte. Ltd. (BIPL) to form a joint venture company that will own and operate Jollibee stores in West Malaysia.

BIPL is majority-owned by Patrick Chong, a franchisee for Jollibee East Malaysia, which covers Kota Kinabalu.

Under the agreement, JFC said the parties will establish a company in Malaysia which will be owned 30% by GPPL and 70% by BIPL.

GPPL and BIPL have committed to initially invest $8 million to the joint venture company, of which up to $2.4 million will be contributed by GPPL in proportion to its ownership in the business.

The joint venture company will have the exclusive license rights to develop the Jollibee brand in West Malaysia.

“The joint venture company aims to open at least 120 stores within 10 years, starting in 2022,” JFC said.

JFC said its business in Southeast Asia, outside the Philippines, is its fastest growing region with a total of 885 stores.

The fast-food giant has a presence in Vietnam, with 621 stores comprising 427 Highlands Coffee, 143 Jollibee, 45 Pho 24, and six The Coffee Bean & Tea Leaf (CBTL).

In Singapore, JFC has 72 stores composed of 61 CBTL and 11 Jollibee.

In Malaysia, the company has 104 stores - 103 CBTL and one Jollibee, while in Indonesia, it has 88 stores - 72 CBTL and 16 Pho 24.

JFC said its Southeast Asia business accounted for 6.7% of its global system wide sales.

“The creation of the joint venture for Jollibee West Malaysia will accelerate even more this growth and will help make Southeast Asia a more significant business for the JFC group,” it said.

The Jollibee Group of Companies operates 17 brands in 33 countries.

As of June 30, 2021, it is operating a total of 5,816 stores, with 3,192 in the Philippines and 2,624 outside the Philippines mostly in North America with 353 stores, China with 407, and Vietnam with 682.

Its largest brands in terms of global store network are Jollibee with 1,487, The Coffee Bean and Tea Leaf with 1,051, Chowking with 607, Red Ribbon 527, Yonghe King with 364, Smashburger with 239, and Mang Inasal with 585.—AOL, GMA News