Jollibee completes sale of Delifrance to CafeFrance

MANILA, Philippines - Homegrown fastfood giant Jollibee Foods Corp. has completed the sale of French bakery-themed café chain Delifrance to CafeFrance Corp. as part of a plan to focus on larger food brands.

In a disclosure to the Philippine Stock Exchange, Jollibee said the completion of the deal results in the termination of Fresh N’ Famous Corp.’s franchise agreement with Delifrance Asia Ltd. effective Dec. 31, 2010. The transaction was valued at P100 million.

Fresh N’ Famous is a wholly-owned unit of the Jollibee Group of Companies.

As of Sept. 7, 2010, there were 23 Delifrance stores in the country (20 were operated by JFC through wholly-owned unit FreshN’Famous, three by franchisees and two satellite booths).

Delifrance began operating in the Philippines in 1995, first, as a joint venture with master franchisee Delifrance Asia Ltd. and as an exclusive franchise of JFC since 2006.      

CafeFrance, a new company recently established by publicly-listed EuroMed Laboratories Phils. Inc., intends to operate a café business in all existing Delifrance store locations under a new café concept and a new brand name.

It also intends to retain the current employees of the Delifrance Business Unit.

Délifrance offers signature sandwiches and premium European-inspired deli products including a hot meal selection, as well as a self-serve bakery section.

The JFC Group of Companies operates the country’s largest fastfood network with a total of 1,578 stores as of Sept. 30, 2010, broken down as follows: Jollibee 703, Chowking 404, Greenwich 218, Red Ribbon 215, Delifrance 23, and Manong Pepe’s 15.

Overseas, the group had 375 stores as of the same date, comprising Yonghe King in the People’s Republic of China (185 stores), Jollibee 64 (mainly in the US with 26, Vietnam 20 and Brunei 11), Red Ribbon 38, all in the US; Chowking 37, mostly in the US with 19 and Dubai with 15); and Hong Zhuang Yuan 51.

Combined, the group had a total of 1,953 stores worldwide as of end-September last year.

JFC continues to be on the prowl for acquisitions to further grow its multi-billion peso business. In July, JFC acquired a 55-percent stake in San Pin Wang, a noodle restaurant chain in China for $4.4 million.

San Pin Wang operates 34 stores in Nanning and Liuzhou in southern China.

To take advantage of the world’s fastest growing market, JFC is building its first commissary in China estimated to cost around $7.4 million. The project is in partnership with Singapore firm Hua Xia Harvest Holdings Pte. Ltd.