Filipino-owned fast food chain Jollibee opens its flagship store in the iconic and most-trafficked tourist destination in the world: Times Square in New York City.
This came as Jollibee Chickenjoy was recently adjudged as the “best fried chicken” among 16 fried chicken chains in the United States by food website eater.com of the prestigious Vox Media.
On Wednesday, Jollibee inaugurated its flagship store in Times Square, the 65th store in the US and the fourth store in the Big Apple, Consul General to New York Elmer Cato announced in his Facebook and Twitter accounts.
“It was a proud moment to see what could be considered the most famous Filipino brand establish its presence right in the heart of New York City,” Cato said.
Officials from the Jollibee North America led the inaugural ribbon-cutting at 1500 Broadway, between 43rd and 44th Streets, beside Good Morning America and in the Bowtie where the New Year’s Eve Ball Drop takes place.
The store will open Thursday (Friday Philippine time) and it is expected to be flocked by thousands of Filipinos and Filipino-American patrons in the East Coast. In Vancouver, Canada, fans camped outside Jollibee branch for over 12 hours when it first opened early this year.
Aside from the US and Canada, Jollibee has stores in 31 other countries such as China, the United Kingdom, Italy, Spain, Vietnam, Brunei, Singapore, Saudi Arabia, United Arab Emirates, Qatar, Oman, Kuwait, Bahrain, Indonesia, Malaysia, South Korea, Japan, India, Costa Rica, Egypt and Panama.
Jollibee Times Square will offer the classic Chickenjoy fried chicken which Eater food website declared winner of the “best fried chicken” bones category beating South Korea’s Bonchon, KFC, Popeyes, McDonalds’, Burger King and other fast food chains.”The subtly seasoned skin is as tectonically crunchy as advertised, if loosely attached in such a way as to be able to slide off an entire hunk with one bite,” Eater’s deputy editor Lesley Super wrote.
“But the real surprise here was the chicken itself: satisfyingly light, flavorful in a ‘tastes like chicken’ sort of way, and supremely moist.”Consul General Cato remembered that Jollibee opened its first store in New York more than 10 years ago. He was then assigned at the Philippine Mission to the United Nations. So he and his colleagues at the Mission had to commute and take a train to Woodside, Queens and have their Palabok and Peach Mango Pie.
When he was dispatched to The Philippine Embassy in Washington DC a few years later, the nearest Jollibee would be the Virginia Beach. So he had to drive all the way from Washington DC for a taste of that signature sweet Jolly Spaghetti and Jolly Hotdog.
Jollibee became scarcer when he was assigned to the Middle East. In Baghdad, he would have to drop by Doha or Kuwait to be able to satisfy his cravings for a bucket of Jollibee Chickenjoy.
“Now that I am assigned to the Philippine Consulate General in New York, I no longer have to take the subway, drive or fly to have what has just been adjudged as the best fried chicken in America—all I have to do is walk a few blocks to Times Square where Jollibee’s flagship store will be opening its doors to the public tomorrow,” he wrote.