Palo, Leyte can finally Bee Happy

MANILA, Philippines - Whenever a kid is sad or scared, it is easy to ask them to close their eyes and dream of their “happy place.” For the children of Palo, Leyte though, this has become quite a tall order. The town, just off the capital city of Tacloban, was the hardest hit almost two years ago by our recent history’s strongest typhoon, and nothing, it seemed, could ever make these kids smile again.

That is until they caught the happiness bug. Glum skies lifted, and hope, once again, started to shine through.

Jollibee, the country’s largest local fast-food chain, recently opened its 900th store in Palo, and it serves as a symbol of just how Filipinos, especially the little ones, can never run out of reasons to smile, even in the wake of destruction.

“Every time we do a milestone celebration, we always look for significance in choosing the site — a place, a town, or community that has a significant meaning,” shared Jollibee Food Corporation president Joseph Tanbuntiong prior to formally opening the 517-square-meter food outlet along Palo’s main artery. “We really saw the resilience of the people of Palo and the whole of Leyte, and we want to be a part of that journey, a part of that community.”

Spreading the (Chicken) Joy

The milestone started with a rainy morning, a common occurrence in this part of the archipelago. But one couldn’t help but notice the slight worry on the faces of its residents with every falling drop. Yet the high spirits at Jollibee Palo couldn’t be dampened, as festival dancers and fast-food mascots welcomed everyone. After Monsignor Rey Ramirez gave his blessing, the doors of Jollibee Palo swung open, ushering guests in.

Jollibee’s road to 900 stores was not a straight and smooth one; it was a series of trying, testing, failing, and succeeding over 37 years. It started as a small branch of Magnolia Ice Cream Parlor in Cubao in 1978, and it didn’t take long before its founder, Tony Tan Caktiong, tried to look for the cherry on top. Upon the prodding of consultant Manuel Lumba, the once simple, nondescript franchise grew into a brand all its own, taking on more established foreign franchises. Armed with a bee mascot garbed in a red orange suit, a shirt and a chef’s toque, that pioneer Jollibee store in Cubao started selling hotdogs, cheeseburgers, and sweet-tasting spaghetti, which Filipinos quickly took on as “Langhap Sarap.”

“It’s our mission statement to spread the joy of family through serving superior-tasting food,” said Tanbuntiong of a business model that remained consistent, even after new items on the menu like the widely popular Chicken Joy were added and Jollibee expanded across the globe. “What we want is when people come and have a good, happy experience here at Jollibee, it will give them an opportunity to bond with each other. We hope, through that, to allow every Filipino to have a better way of experiencing life.”

This has led to Jollibee’s expansion across the rest of the archipelago, a feat marked by its 100th store in Davao City in 1991. It also opened its first international store in Taiwan in 1986, with the hopes of easing the longings of OFWs by giving them an undeniable taste of home. Now Jollibee prides itself on over 100 international branches in the US, the Middle East and Southeast Asia.         

The people of Palo, as well as the rest of Leyte, have shown the world a similarly unsinkable Filipino spirit. “It has been said that recovery efforts in any given place usually take at least five years, but here in Leyte, all it took was two years before we could go back to normal and the foreign aid left,” shared Ludette Ruiz, a business owner in downtown Tacloban, and one of the special guests at the opening.

Tanbuntiong attributes the brand’s continued success to credibility, consistency and compatibility with the tastes and lifestyles of Filipinos. “What is really unique about our products is that only Jollibee has that ‘langhap sarap.’ Even before you eat it, you can smell it. And it’s a very Filipino approach to eating. The other one is that because we have been here for a long time, we have become a part of their lives.”

900 stores, new layout

Other than being the company’s 900th store in the country, Jollibee Palo is the 112th store in the Visayas, designed with a newer and more dynamic layout that utilizes clean lines, well-lit dining stations, and a wide-open layout that encourages more families to eat and enjoy. It also features Jollibee’s full-service fast-food blueprint, which includes a dine-in, drive-thru, delivery, and the Jollibee Kids Party that features well-loved mascots Jollibee, Hetty Spaghetti, Twirlie and Yum. The new Jollibee store also opened up 47 new jobs for Palo residents. Good times indeed.

“It is because of the unrelenting support that Jollibee continues to thrive and grow as the leader, the number one in the country, in the fast-food industry,” said Visayas regional business unit head Michelle Llanos. “Now, as an icon of hope, we are committed to providing another reason to smile for the people of Palo.”

Talk about a beeline: eager customers started queuing up as early as 3 a.m. The first was a young girl diagnosed with Down Syndrome who pleaded with her mom to bring her to the store the moment it opened.

The Jollibee mascot also figures as one of the country’s most recognizable characters among kids. “Some of the stories we hear was that one of the first words babies can say after ‘papa’ and ‘mama’ is ‘Jo-bee,’” Tanbuntiong said, smiling.

For development watchers and rural investors, there is no better barometer of a town’s progress than a Jollibee store. “It has always been said that a new Jollibee store is a sign of economic growth in a particular area,” remarked Leyte first district provincial board member Bob Abellanosa. “This is a sign of positive things to come.”

Feeding and educating kids

Of Jollibee’s 900 stores nationwide, 50 percent are company-owned and the rest are franchises, which shows how the brand’s franchise-holders represent an equal stake in the fast-growing company. “In this relationship, we make them a partner, and in every partnership, you should have common goals,” said Tanbuntiong. “When we have a shared goal, then the partnership becomes stronger.”

This relationship is best seen in the couple Willard and Irene Chan, the Jollibee Tacloban franchisees who were special guests at the Jollibee Palo opening. The couple was not only instrumental in strengthening the brand’s foothold in the region, but also worked hand in hand with Jollibee in its community service efforts through the Jollibee Group Foundation, from serving the victims of Typhoon Yolanda with hot meals only hours after the storm to its continuing programs that benefit 21 public schools in Leyte.

“It is only through education that we felt that we could play a big role in the lives of children,” explained Willard, who was busy serving the kids of Pawing Elementary School with nutritious meals as part of the foundation’s “Busog Lusog Talino” program.

“We were looking for ways to improve education,” said Tanbuntiong. “What we found was there were a lot of dropout students at the grade one and grade two levels, and as we dug deeper, we realized that it’s because of hunger. So, partnering with the Department of Education, the Jollibee Group Foundation came up with a school-feeding program that caters to the most undernourished primary students all over the country, now numbering at over 100,000 students nationwide. At Pawing Elementary School, just a stone’s throw away from its new store, the program has served 40 students in the last two years. We usually measure after the school year, and we see that more than 80 percent of the children are back to their normal weight. That tells us that it’s working.”

The project is sustainable, so after a few years Jollibee can leave it to the school to run it on its own with the help of local government units. Jollibee also unrolled its Jolli-Istante project at Pawing Elementary School, outfitting its library with a shelf full of school- and storybooks.

“The most important thing about the Jollibee Group Foundation is that we are providing the kids a choice — that the wheel of fate isn’t necessarily like that, and that there is hope,” Chan enthused.

There is certainly plenty of hope and joy to go around for the town and its children, if only more companies that have earned success over the years could learn to give back.

“It’s an honor to be able to continue to do well, but at the same time, we feel the responsibility that we are an icon of Filipino pride and Filipino hope, so we need to continuously build Jollibee,” Tanbuntiong said. “And, like what happens with every Jollibee store we put up in any locality, this is our way of paying it forward to the Filipino people who have made the brand a part of their lives.”

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Jollibee’s 900th store is located along the Pan-Philippine Highway, Palo, Leyte.