Jollibee opens CBTL branch in New York

MANILA, Philippines — Jollibee Group, the Filipino-owned Asian food conglomerate, opened its Coffee Bean and Tea Leaf® brand in New York.

Through a franchisee, the Jollibee Group brought the brand to the Big Apple last Aug. 28.

This is the first of many planned openings through its New York-based franchisee Hudson River Coffee & Tea, a venture of outstanding operators, developers and real estate experts, officials said.

“New York City is a competitive and highly desirable market for any coffee retailer and our opening in New York underscores our commitment to bringing our beloved beverages to more guests, and demonstrates our strength as a leading roaster and retailer of coffee and tea,” said The Coffee Bean and Tea Leaf® director of franchise operations Peter Vavra.

Jollibee Group CEO Ernesto Tanmantiong said the company has also made its debut in Boston for the latest store design for Smashburger.

“We are happy to see that these two openings were met with very strong reception from local patrons despite the pandemic. This is a good indication that consumers will continue supporting brands that serve quality, great-tasting food and beverages,” he said.

The Philippine brands – Jollibee, Chowking and Red Ribbon – have also performed well with Jollibee even seeing long queues with recent openings.

“We thank our customers for patronizing our brands and we hope they’ll continue to support our future openings,” said Jollibee Group president for North America Rowel Vijandre.

Earlier this month, Smashburger opened its latest location at 545 Boylston street in Boston, Massachusetts.

The Boylston location will be the first to showcase the brand’s new branding and interior design, along with being one of the first Smashburgers around the country to offer breakfast menu.

The company expects The Coffee Bean and Tea Leaf® brand’s performance to improve further by the fourth quarter this year and become profitable by 2021.

For Smashburger, corporate owned stores registered positive same store sales growth starting in the second week of April, and continue to do so up to the present. The company is targeting to make Smashburger profitable by 2021.

As of June, The Coffee Bean and Tea Leaf® brand had 1,106 stores, while Smashburger had a total of 293 stores. These new store openings represent a key growth initiative for the Jollibee Group as it aims to be one of the top five restaurant companies in the world.