Jollibee mulls bringing Chinese food brand to India

BY JENNEE GRACE U. RUBRICO, BusinessWorld Senior Reporter If publicly listed Jollibee Foods Corp. cannot find a fastfood chain to acquire in India, it may bring one of its Chinese food brands to the South Asian country, its top official said the other night. Jollibee chairman, President and chief executive officer Tony Tan Caktiong told BusinessWorld that the firm is looking at bringing either Yonghe or Chowking to India as a fallback option for its plan to acquire a fastfood chain in the country. India, Mr. Tan Caktiong said, does not have a lot of fastfood chains. Jollibee, however, wants to penetrate the country. "There are not a lot of chains in India, but we’re looking at alternatives. Chinese food is popular in India so one of the alternatives is to probably bring one of our Chinese brands there. It could be Chowking or Yonghe," he said. But he also said that the first priority of the firm is to acquire a fastfood chain that is already established in the country. "If we can acquire something, we’d rather do that. We’re hoping to do that this year," he said. Chowking is Jollibee’s Chinese fastfood chain established in the Philippines. Yonghe King, on the other hand, is a famous fastfood chain in China which Jollibee bought in 2004. Jollibee’s presence in the China market is through the Yonghe King brand. Mr. Tan Caktiong said that Jollibee continues to be upbeat on plans to bring the Jollibee brand to China, hopefully by November. He said the food company will push through with its plans to open an outlet in China despite high rental rates. It was earlier reported that the high rates in China is stalling Jollibee’s plan to enter the market. "On high rates, these are only issues that we have to address. In terms of high rent in China, this is a reality. It’s just one of the things that we need to look at," he said. Mr. Tan Caktiong said that the entry to China and India is part of the firm’s plan to be the leading fastfood chain in the region. "We want to be number one in Asia," he said. Jollibee, the Philippines’ leading food service company, is principally engaged in developing, operating and franchising fastfood stores under the trade name Jollibee, Chowking, Greenwich, Delifrance, and Yonghe King in China. The firm also recently acquired Red Ribbon. Mr. Tan Caktiong also said that the company will also open a Red Ribbon outlet in the East Coast this year. He added that the company will also be opening more Jollibee outlets in the United States, following the opening of its Los Angeles branch recently. "But as to how many we will be opening, we still don’t know," Mr. Tan Caktiong said. He could not say how much the company will be spending for the additional stores. Mr. Tan Caktiong also said that the firm is still on the lookout for brands to acquire in the Philippines. "We are always looking. We still want it to be food, but as to what kind, we still don’t know," he said. For the first quarter, Jollibee, which posted a quarterly net income of P448.7 million from P358.3 million, opened 37 stores, bringing its total number of stores worldwide to 1,448. Of this, 1,287 stores are in the Philippines. -Report from BusinessWorld