JFC bags highest rating for food safety, quality

MANILA, Philippines — Jollibee Foods Corp. received a seven-star rating for its best practices on Food Safety and Quality (FSQ) at the 9th International Best Practice Competition 2023, organized by the Center for Organizational Excellence Research (COER), a global business excellence research and consultancy firm.

Jollibee Group’s entry titled “One JFC End to End Food Safety and Quality Management Strategy” achieved the highest rating and was
recognized for its exceptional performance and commitment to the highest standards in the industry. Jollibee Group was also cited as the strongest best practice in the Process Management and Improvement category.

“Long before the pandemic, our plan to grow our business called for a strategic imperative to implement an end-to-end world-class Food Safety and Quality Management Systems to secure the safety and quality of food products in the entire food chain, from farm to fork. This strategy reinforces JFC’s mission to serve great-tasting food and bring the joy of eating to everyone,” said Wally Mateo, vice president, and head of Quality Management of the Jollibee Group.

For this year, 82 best practices from across the world were assessed by 16 honorable panels of expert international judges. Four out of these 82 entries were from the Philippines and Jollibee Group is among the three Philippine organizations that were given a seven-star rating.

The Jollibee Group’s end-to-end food safety and quality management strategy is benchmarked against internationally recognized risk-based standards, as applicable in each segment of the food chain. The said strategy was augmented to build a pool of Internal Quality Assessors that are technically equipped in conducting compliance audits among vendor partners across the globe.

As part of this strategy, the company also makes use of available technology to digitalize several manual and disparate processes in records management, quality monitoring, and in analyzing quality performances of hundreds of suppliers and thousands of restaurants across the globe. It also upgrades its Quality Management System (QMS) requirements each year to address external risks or threats, operational weaknesses, new regulations, and new customer requirements, which results in an evolving QMS model.

“The evolution of our QMS has strengthened the company’s Food Safety and Quality culture over the years. It has protected the business reputation and enabled good business outcomes as manifested by progressive business growth, multiple brand acquisitions, and steadily growing network of restaurants across regions and countries. Food Safety Excellence was a strategic imperative and a bedrock for business sustainability,” Mateo said.

Continuing its commitment to FSQ, Jollibee Group’s Global QM recently developed a three-year master plan to build on the company’s sustainability agenda, which focuses on food safety, environment Protection, and Social well-being.

In 2023, the Jollibee Group launched its global sustainability agenda dubbed “Joy for Tomorrow” to serve as anchor for sustaining business growth while contributing to creating a better future for all.

A series of events will unfold in the next three years anchoring on awareness campaign, upgrading QMS to incorporate sustainability requirements in the restaurants and supply chain operations, and compliance monitoring.

The International Best Practice Competition is organized by COER, together with Best Practice Improvement Resource  and Global Benchmarking Network and in partnership with the Abu Dhabi Chamber of Commerce and Industry, Abu Dhabi Center for Organizational Excellence, and Sheikh Khalifa Excellence Award.