Fastfood Pinoy style isn’t really that fast

There’s a recent article that came out of Time Magazine’s April 11 issue on Jollibee’s entry into the US market. I got this report from the Internet as it has sparked an intense Internet debate whether Jollibee truly represents Filipino values.

Some say that Jollibee doesn’t even represent Filipino cuisine as many Filipino restaurants catering to local foods were forced to shut down when Jollibee stores opened in the neighborhood. For whatever it’s worth, here’s an excerpt of that article.

"Jollibee, with more than 1,400 stores in the Philippines and 11 branches in California, makes McDonald’s look like a funeral parlor. Its mascot is a jolly bee, and the restaurants are blindingly happy, all giant, shiny yellow blocks, as if they were designed by an architect from Legoland.

Even if you gave Walt Disney all the ecstasy in the world, he would not have come up with this. America, according to Jollibee, is clearly a place of childlike optimism. Jollibee’s two most popular items are called the Yumburger and the Chickenjoy. The Yumburger has a weird, plasticky dollop of French dressing in the middle. The crisped-up French fries are dry inside and taste as if they weren’t just double fried but dunked in oil four or five times. The fried chicken is halfway decent, but the inflated, happy fakeness of Jollibee makes you feel that the only American its Filipino owners have ever seen is Pamela Anderson."

To be totally honest about it, I’m proud that Jollibee, a Filipino-owned fastfood outlet has invaded the shores of America. This is what globalization is all about. In fact, when I was in Las Vegas a few weeks ago, our Filipino friends were agog that a Jollibee outlet was already opening up.

However, I’m writing this piece because I happen to believe that Filipinos still have a long way to go in truly giving its customers true fastfood service and I’m not only referring to Jollibee, but other American fastfood outlets like Kentucky Fried Chicken (KFC) and McDonald’s Restaurants.

A fact here in Cebu is that the people do not have any concept of how fast your food should be served. In two outlets of McDonald’s, for instance, their drive-in microphone and speaker has been busted for months. When I complained that cars were queuing longer, the response of their managers was: "We’re waiting for Manila’s go-signal to fix the problem!" Why should it be the Manila office which should solve such a minor problem that gets their customers mad? Jollibee has the same problem.

Another problem common in among fastfood outlets is the matter of condiments. Buy a Big Mac and they won’t serve you any mustard. Buy a Jollie Dog and they don’t even have any mustard. In New York, it is a sacrilege to eat Nathan’s hotdog without mustard But in the Philippines, you have to pay for the mustard or worse, Jollibee doesn’t even have it! The same thing is true with KFC, but if you’ve eaten in a KFC in the US, chances are, you won’t ever eat a KFC here, because the chicken is so small, you’d think that you were shortchanged or cheated.

If you ask me, our fastfood outlets still have a long way to go before they really reach American standards, where you pay only once for soft drinks and you can drink as much as you want and where condiments of all sorts are given free, not sold in little plastic containers and where they serve food really fast. That’s is what fastfood is all about.

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Today, the Hirobo Cup International Asia begins at the South Reclamation Properties (SRP) in Cebu City. The Hirobo Cup is a RC (That’s for radio control) helicopter competition organized and sponsored by the world’s leading RC helicopter manufacturer, Hirobo Limited of Japan. This RC helicopter competition aims to bring together RC helicopter enthusiasts from all over the world to test their skills according to the sporting code section 4, volume F3C of the Fédération Aéronautique Internationale (FAI), the world air sports federation.

This is the very first time that an International RC Event is being held in the Philippines and all roads lead to Cebu. There will be competitors from Hong Kong, Taiwan, Thailand, Korea, South Africa and the United States and of course the Philippines.

The event is packed with a lot of activities such as fine-tuning of machines by factory mechanics and/or pilots, demonstration flights of both F3C and 3D by Hirobo’s factory pilots and other well-known pilots from different parts of the world.

This international event is done with the cooperation of the City of Cebu under Mayor Tomas Osmeña and Cebu City Council chairman for Sports, Games and Amusements Councilor Sylvan "Jak d’ Wak" Jakosalem. A runway for RC Aircraft was asphalted for this event in coordination with Hirobo export manager Takahiro Kobayashi and World Air Sports Federation Shakespeare Chan, and FAI-Philippines Team Manager JP Reyes. It is being hosted by the Cebu Aeromodeler’s Club headed by its president John Wong.

While you may say that watching the Hirobo International Cup Asia is about watching those so-called "boys with their big toys," the truth is flying a RC helicopter is not much different from flying a real helicopter except that the person flying the chopper is on the ground. In fact, an Unmanned Air Vehicle (UAV) dubbed the "Predator" packed with all sorts of sensors, including a thermal imaging radar, helped track the Abu Sayyaf, which lead to the killing of Abu Sabaya. RCs are not just toys, they can be serious business and deadly too! It can also help patrol the wide expanse of the threatened Visayan Seas.

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Here’s a letter sent via e-mail in response to our article on cleanliness, which is quite self-explanatory.

"Dear Mr. Avila, You’ve just touched a subject that should affect every Filipino young and old, rich and poor: Cleanliness. I wonder what happened to the saying "Cleanliness is next to Godliness" among our compatriots. My first encounter with this saying goes way back many decades ago when I attended grade school. It’s something one can’t miss because it was displayed in big black on top of the blackboard, in full view of the entire class. Was that sign there for nothing? I believe so now because seemingly the saying has become taboo fifty-plus years later.

Sincerely, Alfredo P."   

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For e-mail responses to this article, write to [email protected]. Bobit Avila’s columns can also be accessed through www.thefreeman.com. He also hosts a weekly talkshow entitled, "Straight from the Sky" every Monday only in Metro Cebu on Channel 15 of SkyCable at 8 p.m.