Jollibee to spend P10.4B for store, network expansion

Homegrown fast-good giant Jollibee Foods Corp. has set aside P10.4 billion for capital outlay this year, more than double the level last year, as it embarks on further store expansion and network infrastructure improvement.

Jollibee, which now generates 22 percent of its business from the international market, is the ninth most valuable among quick-service restaurant chains in the world.  The goal is to be among the world’s top five fast-food chains by market capitalization within the next five to seven years.

In a presentation to stockholders on Friday, Jollibee chief executive officer Ernesto Tanmantiong said the substantial increase in capital expenditure this year would support the opening of 200 domestic stores, about 70 percent of which  will be in Visayas and Mindanao.

Outside the Philippines, the group expects to open 80 to 100 new stores this year.

Also, Tanmantiong said Jollibee would open three new commissary facilities to support its restaurant chain as well as expand its existing commissary in Canlubang, Laguna.

The group also intends to improve its logistics capability by building new warehouses and distribution centers.

Of the total capital spending budget this year, about P5 billion will be for the opening of new stores; P2 billion for store renovation, and some P2 billion for the commissaries, Jollibee chief finance officer Ysmael Baysa said.

On Jollibee’s offshore business, Tanmantiong said Jollibee’s largest international business—in China—delivered positive same-store sales growth and continued to be profitable even as it faced weak economic conditions in 2015.

“Our US business grew well ahead of the fast food market in the country with strong same store sales and profit growth. Our businesses in Southeast Asia and the Middle East saw strong sales growth in 2015 driven by our Jollibee business in Vietnam and new Middle East markets in the United Arab Emirates and Bahrain,” he said.