Jollibee brings CBTL back to New York
Homegrown fast-food giant Jollibee Foods Corp. has brought specialty chain The Coffee Bean and Tea Leaf (CBTL) back to New York, affirming its commitment to grow its restaurant business in the United States, one of its largest overseas markets.
CBTL opened last Aug. 28 a new store at 5 Greene Ave. in Brooklyn through Jollibee’s New York-based franchisee Hudson River Coffee and Tea (HRCT). This is seen to be the first of many planned openings through HRCT, a venture of operators, developers, and real estate experts.
“CBTL previously closed its stores and exited New York well before Jollibee’s acquisition of CBTL,” Jollibee chair Tony Tan Caktiong said in a text message.
Jollibee completed its $350-million takeover of loss-making CBTL, its largest overseas acquisition to date, in September 2019.
“New York City is a competitive and highly desirable market for any coffee retailer and our opening in New York underscores our commitment to bringing our beloved beverages to more guests, and demonstrates our strength as a leading roaster and retailer of coffee and tea,” said CBTL director of franchise operations Peter Vavra.
The last New York store of CBTL was shut down in 2016, long before the global chain was put on the block and eventually bought by the Filipino company.
CBTL’s Greene Avenue location features a “uniquely Brooklyn” vibe. The store offers signature beverages and pastries which are certified kosher to cater to the local community.
At the same time, Jollibee debuted its latest store design for American burger chain Smashburger in the Back Bay of Boston, Massachusetts.
“For years, Boston has been known as one of America’s greatest food towns, which is why it made perfect sense to bring our newest design to the city,” said Smashburger CEO Carl Bachmann.
“We are happy to see that these two openings were met with very strong reception from local patrons despite the pandemic. This is a good indication that consumers will continue supporting brands that serve quality, great-tasting food and beverages,” said Jollibee chief executive officer Ernesto Tanmantiong.
Jollibee’s North America business has continued to outperform the US fast-food chain industry, said Jollibee Group president for North America Rowel Vijandre.
Smashburger has seen a double-digit expansion in business for the past three months across company owned stores while online sales had grown by 390 percent, Vijandre said. CBTL has also “steadily grown” since April despite the impact of the pandemic, he added.
“The Philippine brands—Jollibee, Chowking and Red Ribbon—have also performed well with Jollibee even seeing long queues with its recent openings. We thank our customers for patronizing our brands and we hope they’ll continue to support our future openings,” he said.
Smashburger’s latest location at 545 Boylston St. is the first to showcase the brand’s new branding and interior design, along with being one of the first Smashburgers around the country to offer their breakfast menu.
Jollibee Group earlier shared its plans to open 338 stores worldwide across its brands to strengthen the business for the long-term. It expects CTBL’s performance to improve further by the fourth quarter of 2020 and become profitable by 2021. —DORIS DUMLAO-ABADILLA
