FAST-FOOD company Jollibee Foods Corp. opened its first Jollibee branch in the United Kingdom over the weekend, part of the company’s accelerated expansion plans in Europe.
The company is targeting to open 50 stores in five years in the whole of Europe, half of which will be in the UK.
The London branch is only the second Jollibee store in Europe, following the launch of Jollibee Milan in March.
“Today’s store opening is an important event for our company’s expansion journey. We chose Earls Court as the location of the first UK store as it is the home of the largest Filipino community in London. We are delighted to share Jollibee’s signature brand of great-tasting food and friendly service to them,” said Ernesto Tanmantiong, the company’s CEO.
“We want the Filipino community in London to experience ‘a taste of home’ when they dine and eat their favorite Jollibee dishes. We would also like the British people to experience the food and find out for themselves why people line up for hours and travel across countries to have a taste of Jollibee,” he said.
Jollibee, a homegrown brand that serves mostly Filipino communties overseas, claimed it has succeeded winning the loyalty of markets, such as Vietnam, Brunei Darussalam, Singapore and Hong Kong.
Also launching in the second half of the year is their first store in Manhattan, the second branch in New York.
Jollibee is also expected to expand to Malaysia and open their first store in Kota Kinabalu in the coming weeks.
To date, there are more than 1,300 Jollibee brand stores globally.