Jollibee forms $1-million unit for Singapore market

MANILA, Philippines - Jollibee Foods Corp. (JFC), the country’s largest food service company, is investing an initial $1 million to fund its initial foray in Singapore.

In a disclosure to the Philippine Stock Exchange, JFC said it forged an agreement with Beeworks to jointly form a company that will own and operate Jollibee stores in Singapore.

Beeworks is owned by mostly Singaporean individuals with extensive business experience in the retail and hospitality sector.

Under the agreement, the new company will be 60 percent owned by Golden Plate Pte. Ltd.(GPPL), a wholly-owned subsidiary of JFC, and 40 percent by Beeworks.

GPPL will have full management control of the new firm while leveraging on Beeworks’ experience, reputation and network to establish the Jollibee brand in Singapore.

JFC’s flagship brand, Jollibee, is known for its trademark food products such as Champ, Chicken Joy and Yum.

JFC also owns Chowking, Greenwich, Red Ribbon, Caffe Ti-Amo, Mang Inasal (70 percent) and Burger King Philippines (54 percent).

Since its inception, Jollibee has become an increasingly profitable fastfood chain with a total of 831 stores worldwide, 752 of which are located in the Philippines.

Including all its brands, JFC had a total of 2,513 stores worldwide as of end-March this year, 2004 of which are based here – Jollibee (752), Chowking (381), Greenwich (204), Red Ribon (207), Mang Inasal (436) and Burger King (24).

Through subsidiaries and affiliates overseas, JFC develops and operates its international brands Yonghe King, Hong Zhuang Yuan and San Pin Wang.

JFC has presence in the United States, Vietnam, Brunei, Jeddah, Hong Kong, Qatar, Kuwait, Dubai, Indonesia and Qatar.