Jollibee discontinues Dunkin’ business in Beijing

Jollibee Foods Corp. (JFC) on Wednesday announced the discontinuance of its Dunkin’ business in Beijing, as it seeks to focus on its larger businesses in China moving forward.

In a regulatory filing, JFC said its wholly-owned subsidiary Jollibee Worldwide Pte. Ltd. has terminated the Master Franchise Agreement (MFA) for Dunkin’ covering certain territories in the Chinese mainland, Hong Kong, and Macau.

The parties also announced the termination of the operations of Singapore-based Golden Cup Corporation, which operates seven Dunkin’ restaurants in Beijing.

The MFA was entered into on January 5, 2015 between Singapore-based Golden Cup Pte. Ltd., and Delaware-based Dunkin’ Donuts Franchising LLC, covering certain business territories.

“Jollibee Foods Corporation will focus on building its business in China through its larger businesses there,” it said, noting that it had 486 stores in the country as of September 30, 2022.

Among its businesses in China are Yonghe King with 418 stores, Hong Zhuang Yuan with 55 stores, and Tim Ho Wan with 13 stores. It also has 21 Jollibee stores in Hong Kong, and three in Macau.

For its part, Dunkin’ plans to continue its expansion across China and the broader region through franchising deals.

The company reported a 70.5% increase in its third-quarter net income to P2.318 billion, as system-wide sales climbed by 51.3% to P77.754 billion.

“JFC reported a solid performance in the third quarter of 2022 driven by record system wide sales and revenues and continued improvement in margins despite macro-economic pressures,” JFC chief financial officer Richard Shin said in a separate filing.

It ended the third quarter with 6,351 stores across the world, with 3,238 located in the Philippines and 3,113 international stores.

Its business portfolio also includes the brands Jollibee, Chowking, Greenwich, Red Ribbon, Mang Inasal, Burger King, Highlands Coffee, PHO24, Hard Rock Cafe, Smashburger, Tortas Frontera, The Coffee Bean & Tea Leaf, and Panda Express.

Shares in JFC were trading at P233.00 apiece as of 11:18 a.m. on Wednesday, up by P4.40 or 1.92% from Tuesday’s finish of P228.60. — VBL, GMA Integrated News