Jollibee Foods Corp. on Wednesday said it opened its first flagship stores in Liverpool in the United Kingdom, and in the Greater Dallas Area in West Plano, Texas, in the United States.
Long lines of customers were seen in the Liverpool opening, with the first customer lining up as early as 2 am on opening day. In West Plano, Texas, the line of cars for the Jollibee drive-thru snaked around the parking lot continuing onto the highway, and hundreds of calls flooded the store for advance pickup orders.
The Liverpool opening achieved double its initial sales forecast, while the West Plano location also exceeded its target and served close to 2000 customers on its opening day. Long lines continue to be seen in both stores to this day.
“Jollibee continues to grow in both North America and Europe,” Jollibee CEO Ernesto Tanmantiong said. “In North America, the Jollibee brand is seeing double-digit growth, with our Chowking and Red Ribbon brands also performing well.”
“Smashburger’s company-owned stores have also seen double-digit growth for the past four months. The digital pivot happening has driven off-premise channels like delivery, drive-thru, and take-out to a higher level, enabling our brands to outperform the QSR [quick serve restaurant] industry in the US.”
He said the next Jollibee store will open in Leicester before the end of 2020, and the company said it is on track to have 50 restaurants in the next three to five years.
“The Liverpool store is showing how Jollibee is appealing to local communities and not just to Filipinos, and we are grateful for their warm welcome and the love they are showing for our food,” Tanmantiong said.
“What is really striking at Liverpool’s opening week was that 40 percent of customers were new to the Jollibee brand, and they were interested to try the food for the first time. This increased to 50 percent by the week after, which speaks to the positive reaction of local Liverpudlians to Jollibee,” said Dennis Flores, the company’s president for Europe, Middle East, Asia and Australia.
Jollibee’s Liverpool location featured exclusive menu items catering to its local UK consumers, including Asian Slaw, Tropical Burger, Mango Coconut Sundae, and Asian Chicken Tender Rice Bowl. It also launched a fresh store look that is designed to better engage with the European market.
Jollibee’s store in Dallas marks the brand’s 45th store in the US, while the Liverpool location marks the third in Europe. The brand currently has over 1400 stores across the globe, with more stores scheduled this year as part of the Jollibee Group’s strategy to selectively open new stores in well-situated locations. VG Cabuag
Image credits: Contributed Photo