A Red Bee's Success In The Food Service Industry

There have been many kinds of fast-food restaurants in the Philippines that have come and go throughout the years. But there is one brand of fast-food restaurant that stayed with the Filipinos for over 30 years. This particular fast-food restaurant if popularly known for its wide collection of fast-food menus, such as burgers and fries, including some Filipino favorites such as Palabok. One popular trademark of this fast-food restaurant is a giant red bee, wearing a blazer and a chef's hat. This fast-food restaurant is known as Jollibee.

Jollibee is a fast-food restaurant based in the Philippines that offers some of the most delectable collections of fast-food menus such as burgers, fries, spaghetti, and deep fried chickens. From its famous trademark, a red bee wearing a blazer and a chef's hat, as well as its menus, "YumBurger" and "ChickEnjoy", it clearly indicates that the restaurant were made to satisfy the joys and laughters of the Filipino children. And because of its popularity in the food-service industry, Jollibee is now considered as the biggest fast-food restaurant in the country, topping that of other popular fast-food restaurants in the Philippines such as McDonald's and Wendy's.

The Beginnings
According to their Jollibee philippine website, Tony Tan Caktiong and his family opened a Magnolia Ice Cream parlor in Cubao in 1975. The original name was Jolibe. Sometime in 1978, Tony Tan and his brothers and sisters, being partners, engaged the services of a management consultant in the person of Manuel C. Lumba. Lumba became Tony Tan's first business and management mentor. Consultant Lumba shifted the business focus from ice cream to hamburgers, after his studies showed that a much larger market was waiting to be tapped. He had the name changed from Jolibe to Jolly Bee, then to the one-word name Jollibee.

The restaurant, however, still needed something that could convey friendship and honesty, especially with the children. But what better place to look for than children's books. Lumba conceptualized the Jollibee mascot, inspired by local and foreign children's books, and created the product name "Yumburger" as well as "Chickenjoy". He had the company incorporated and leased a house on Main St. in Cubao, Quezon City, as their first headquarters. From here, they formulated how to better serve the Filipino people with their unique collections of fast-food menus.

The Now
The company then grew to become a corporation, the Jollibee Food Corporation in which housed some of the best collection of fast-food restaurants that the company acquired including Greenwich Pizza, Chowking, Red Ribbon Bakeshop, Délifrance, and Manong Pepe's. According to their Jollibee philippine website, as of March, 2008, JFC has 1,466 stores in the Philippines namely, Jollibee (627), Chowking (377), Greenwich Pizza (236), Red Ribbon Bakeshop (194), Délifrance (28) and Manong Pepe's (4). According to their Jollibee philippine website, it has 23 stores overseas. As of end-September, 2008, JFC has 1,490 local and 228 foreign stores in its portfolio.