Jollibee enters into joint venture for frozen desserts

MANILA, Philippines - Local fastfood giant Jollibee Foods Corp. (JFC) is making its presence felt in the frozen dessert industry through a joint venture that would distribute Caffe Ti-Amo, a Korean restaurant brand offering gelato in a casual dining format.

Italian-style ice cream, commonly known as gelato, is made with some of the same ingredients as most other frozen dairy desserts. Milk, cream, various sugars, flavoring including fruit and nut purees are the main ingredients.

In a disclosure to the Philippine Stock Exchange, JFC said it has forged a joint venture agreement with local entrepreneur Pamela Tan and her siblings to develop and build a business around gelato and coffee.

 The joint venture, which is equally owned by JFC and Tan, will become the master franchisee in the Philippines of the four year-old Caffe Ti-Amo. Since its inception, Caffé Ti-Amo has expanded to 269 stores and has become very successful in Korea.

The franchisor will be Caffe Ti-Amo Korea Co. Ltd., owner of the Caffe Ti-Amo trademarks based in Korea.

The joint venture will have an initial capitalization of P100 million, with its first store to open in The Annex at SM North EDSA. Additional stores will open in other major malls. 

“The joint venture plans to open in the Philippines mostly franchised stores and a few joint venture-owned stores,” JFC said.

Gelato differs from ice cream in that it has a lower butterfat content of between four to eight percent compared with 14 percent for ice cream. Gelato generally has slightly lower sugar content, averaging between 16-22 percent against approximately 21 percent for ice cream. Non-fat milk is added as a solid.

JFC chairman and chief executive officer Tony Tan Caktiong said the company is looking forward to a more robust growth this year particularly in the Philippines and China.