Jollibee sets sights on India

After invading Indonesia, fastfood giant Jollibee Foods Corp. is setting its sights on India as the next site for its expansion, a top company official said yesterday.

At the sidelines of stockholders meeting yesterday, Jollibee’s chief financial officer Ysmael V. Baysa said the company continues to look for opportunities in other foreign markets to sustain growth in sales. He said the groupplans to enter India either this year or next year.

Jollibee opened its first store in Indonesia last March. "We have already entered Indonesia with one store and I’m happy to say that it is doing very well," Baysa said.

At the same time, Baysa said the company is looking at other businesses both in the local and international markets for possible acquisition as it aims to further boost its cashflow. "We have always been looking out for acquisitions. It is part of our strategy. We are attracted to businesses that cater to the masses," he said.

Baysa said the company has set aside P1.5 billion this year for the establishment of between 80 to 100 new stores locally and overseas. Of this amount, P200 million has been earmarked for the construction of 20 new Yonghe King stores in China and 10 in the US and other international markets including Hong Kong, Saipan, Brunei and in Vietnam.

Of the new stores to be opened within the Philippines this year, 20 will consist of the flagship Jollibee stores, 30 as Oriental fastfood outlet Chowking and 20 as Greenwich pizza and pasta chain.

Baysa said funding will come from internally-generated cash. The company, he said, has P3.3 billion in cash, sufficient to finance its planned expansion.

Last year, the Jollibee Group opened a total of 158 new stores worldwide, the most number of new stores opened in any one year in its 26 years. It had a total of 1,185 stores worldwide at the end of 2004.

Baysa said the continued rise in the price of oil and utilities is shrinking its proftt margins.

In addition, he said the high inflation rate is putting pressure on consumer spending in business.

Jollibee is the largest Filipino food company, with sales of P21.7 billion or $397 million in 2004, up 13.7 percent from a year earlier. Sales in the first quarter of 2005 were up almost 20 percent. All its other food businesses are doing well with pastry unit Delifrance growing its sales by almost 32 percent in the first quarter. Yonghe King sales in China grew 27 percent in the first quarter.

Baysa refused to comment whether Jollibee would see an improvement in its profit in the second quarter this year, although sales have been improving on strong consumer spending.

As of end-March this year, the Jollibee Group had 1,072 stores: 501 Jollibee, 312 Chowking, 227 Greenwich and 32 Delifrance. It also operates a total of 119 stores outside of the Philippines, mostly Yonghe King in China with 86 stores.

The Jollibee brand is one of the most well-known and strongest consumer brands in the country, serving burgers and crispy chicken. Chowking serves Oriental food while Greenwich is one of the leading players in the pizza-pasta market.

Delifrance, on the other hand, is a significant player in the French bakery-café segment.