JFC aims to become among world’s top 5 fast-food chains

Homegrown fast-food giant Jollibee Foods Corp., now the top fast-food chain in Asia, aims to be among the world’s top five quick service restaurant (QSR) chains in terms of market capitalization in seven years’ time.

Aiming to beat large multinational peers not just in its home market, JFC aims to achieve this goal of becoming an even larger international brand by focusing on two overseas markets—the United States and mainland China, company founder and chair Tony Tan Caktiong said in a briefing Friday. These are the world’s two largest consumer markets, he said.

At present, JFC is already among the world’s 10 largest QSR groups in terms of market capitalization but the goal is to climb even higher.   As of Friday, JFC is valued by the stock market at P212.8 billion ($4.7 billion). The others are McDonald’s, Subway, Restaurant Brands (owner of Burger King and Tim Horton’s), Wendy’s, Pizza Hut and KFC.

“We are now literally among the giants of the world,” said JFC’s new chief executive officer, Ernest Tanmantiong, who addressed company shareholders for the first time.

In mainland China, Tanmantiong said the group had achieved profitability driven by JFC’s three brands—Yonghe King, Hong Zhuang Yuan and San Pin Wang. Early this year, the group bagged the deal to operate the Dunkin Donuts franchise in China, where the commitment is to open 1,000 stores in 20 years.

The group plans to expand its footprint in mainland China by 10 to 20 percent yearly, he said, adding that it would soon take the franchising route to accelerate expansion.

JFC chief finance officer Ysmael Baysa said the group’s operations in China had turned profitable in 2014.

Mainland China accounts for 12 percent of JFC’s revenue sales, the biggest among its foreign markets.

To date, the US contributes only 5 percent but having identified this as one of the group’s three priority markets, Tan Caktiong said the group was looking to grow through acquisition in the next 12 months.