Jollibee Then And Now

Jollibee is one of the most popular fast-food restaurants in the Philippines today. Although the number of fast-food restaurants are steadily increasing in the Philippines, particularly those found in malls, Jollibee still stands as the largest and highly recognized fast-food chains across the country. According to many professionals, Jollibee isn't only considered as the largest fast-food restaurant in the Philippines, but it has also been widely recognized around the wold, making it one of the biggest fast-food chains in the world, similar with McDonald's, Wendy's, and Burger King.

Other than their own signature brand, Jollibee philippine have also been known for its acquisitions of other popular fast-food restaurants in the Philippines. First is Greenwich Pizza which became the largest pizza-pasta restaurant in the Philippines. Second is Chowking which pioneered the oriental fast-food segment in the Philippines. Other acquisitions include Red Ribbon Bakeshop, the second largest bakery in the Philippines, and Délifrance, a French style cafe-bakery which is a growing segment of the Philippine food market.

Jollibee's acquisition of other fast-food chains in the Philippines gave rise to the company's success in the market. According to many analysts, Jollibee philippine currently has 1,490 local and 228 foreign stores, making it one of the biggest fast-food chains in the world. However, like many other successful businesses, Jollibee have also started small, very small.

Jollibee's History
According to its own website, Jollibee started not with selling hamburgers, fries, deep fried chickens, and spaghettis, which are the menus that made it popular. Jollibee started merely as a Magnolia ice cream parlor, specializing in selling ice creams. Before it was known as Jollibee, the chain was first called as Jolibe.

Tony Tan Caktiong founded the first Jolibe in Cubao in 1975. However, 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 suggested to Tony and to his siblings in shifting the business from selling ice creams to selling hamburgers. According to Lumba's studies, a much larger market was waiting to be tapped in terms of hamburgers. This was the start of Jollibee's success in the Philippine food market.

Tony and Lumba had the name changed from Jolibe to Jolly Bee, then to the one-word name Jollibee. Next, Lumba conceptualized the Jollibee mascot, inspired by local and foreign children's books, and created the product name "Yumburger" as well as "Chickenjoy" and many other changes within their company. Soon, Jollibee philippine flourished, with each expansions bringing success to the company.