8 American Restaurant Chains That Opened—and Closed—in the Philippines
How many of these do you remember, and miss?
1| P.F. Chang’s
P.F. Chang’s is a casual restaurant chain serving Chinese fusion cuisine. It first opened in Scottsdale, Arizona in 1993 and has since grown to over 300 locations in over 20 countries worldwide as of 2024.
The restaurant brand first announced expanding to the Philippines in 2010 through a development and license agreement with Global Restaurant Concepts Inc. “We are delighted to bring P.F. Chang’s to the Philippines,” said Archie Rodriguez, president of Global Restaurant Concepts, Inc. in a statement about the partnership with the P.F. Chang principals. “We believe customers in the Philippines will love the quality of the food and high-energy atmosphere that P.F. Chang’s provides to its guests.”
Two years later, in 2012, P.F. Chang’s opened its first branch in Alabang Town Center in Muntinlupa. The branch served many of the dishes it was known for, including Chang’s Chicken Lettuce Wraps, Dynamite Shrimp, and Kung Pao Chicken. The chain eventually opened other branches, including one in Bonifacio Global City and Shangri-La Plaza’s East Wing.
By 2019, however, all P.F. Chang’s branches were closed in the Philippines.
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2| Carl’s Jr
Carl’s Jr. is a fast-food restaurant that offers the typical fare of burgers and fries. Its very first store opened in 1956 in California, although its roots go further back to a hotdog stand in Los Angeles in the 1940s.
As of 2024, Carl’s Jr says it has over 3,800 franchised or company-owned restaurants in 44 states in America and over 40 countries worldwide.
The first Carl’s Jr. opened in the Philippines on February 19, 1994. At the time, the restaurant chain competed head-on with other fast-food giants like McDonald’s, Wendy’s, and, of course, Jollibee. The brand closed its stores in Manila but made a comeback around the turn of the millennium. By 2004, there were at least eight branches of Carl’s Jr across Metro Manila, mostly in SM malls, and at least one each in Glorietta in Makati and near De La Salle University in Manila. Patrons flocked to their stores for their giant, juicy Star Burger paired with their mouthwatering onion rings.
But the brand with the smiling, happy star logo somehow couldn’t quite capture as many customers as it needed to stay afloat, and the brand eventually exited the Philippine market. In 2022, Carl’s Jr. announced that it was also exiting the Thailand market, closing all six of its restaurants after a 10-year run.
3| A&W
A&W’s beginnings go all the way back to 1919, when a man named Roy Allen opened a small root beer stand in the town of Lodi, California. Soon after, Allen partnered with Frank Wright to open their first drive-in restaurant in Sacramento. A&W only grew from there and, as of 2024, it now has close to 1,000 locations worldwide.
According to a newspaper report, the first conventional branch of A&W in Manila opened in 1988 at the old Fiesta Carnival in Cubao, Quezon City. A few months later, in November 1988, a second branch opened at the Gift Gate Center, although this store was razed by a fire in May 1990. Two more outlets soon opened in Gotesco Central in Caloocan City and SM North EDSA. A&W set itself apart from other fast-food outlets by focusing on its specialties like root beer and hotdogs.
For a time, the company became well-entrenched in Filipino culture, especially after it sponsored a team in the Philippine Basketball Association. That sponsorship was short-lived, however, and was withdrawn in 1992. The restaurant chain itself fared much better, especially throughout the 1990s, when it opened other branches outside of Metro Manila. But, by the mid-2000s, even its core products weren’t enough to keep the, er, root beer afloat. Today there are no more A&W restaurants in the Philippines.
4| IHOP
IHOP (or the International House of Pancakes) is a chain of diner-style restaurant chain that primarily serves breakfast food. It was founded in Los Angeles, California in 1958 and has since become a globally recognized food brand that currently has around 1,750 locations worldwide.
IHOP’s first Philippine location opened at the W Global Center in BGC in February 2013. It opened at least six other branches in Metro Manila, including UP Town Center, Araneta Center, Ayala Fairview Terraces, Filinvest City in Alabang, and Eastwood Citywalk, over the next few years. IHOP’s success in the Philippines, though, was short-lived, as all brick-and-mortar branches of the chain were shuttered just five years later, in 2018.
However, it seems IHOP isn’t completely gone from Manila. In 2021, IHOP made a surprise comeback as a cloud kitchen, meaning customers can still order their favorites from the IHOP menu and have them delivered through Foodpanda.
5| Baskin-Robbins
Ice cream specialty shop Baskin-Robbins traces its origins to the merger of two ice cream parlors owned by two brothers-in-law in California in 1945. Today it has around 8,000 locations in over 40 countries.
While Baskin-Robbins ice cream was previously available in the Philippines in the ‘80s and ‘90s, the local franchise was taken over by a company called IceDream Inc, led by Micheel Dargani, in 2013. The deal involved the opening of Baskin-Robbins shops in major metropolitan areas across the country—up to 50 branches over the next five years—with an initial focus in Metro Manila.
Initially buoyed by Filipino’s inherent love for ice cream and sweets in general, the brand quickly expanded to multiple locations over the next few years. However, it seems the company was not able to achieve its target of 50 branches in five years. By 2022, according to a Facebook post, it only had branches in Glorietta 2, Solenad, Bonifacio High Street, Alabang Town Center, Ayala Mall the 30th, SM Aura, SM Dasmarinas, and SM Pampanga.
By the end of that year, the company announced that it would close down all the remaining branches and exit the Philippines for good.
6| Johnny Rockets
While Johnny Rockets was based on the diner-style concept popular all over the U.S. in the 1950s, it was actually founded in 1986 in Los Angeles, California. Serving the usual classic American fare of hamburgers, milkshakes, fries, and onion rings, the restaurant offered a retro ambiance that appealed to a wide variety of customers.
Johnny Rockets opened its first branch in the Philippines in September 2009 at the ground floor of Eastwood Mall in Libis, Quezon City through the efforts of Amable Aguiluz IX. It opened locations in Robinsons Galleria and Tomas Morato, and Ayala Fairview Terraces Mall in Quezon City, one in Shangri-La Plaza Mall in Mandaluyong, one in Alabang Town Center, and one in Boracay island.
However, by 2017, all but one of the branches (the original one in Eastwood) had closed down. And even that branch eventually shut its doors not long after.
7| Quiznos
Quiznos was founded in Denver, Colorado in 1981. Its main offering are toasted submarine sandwiches. It quickly grew in popularity over the decades, reaching nearly 5,000 locations by the early 2010s.
Local franchisee ACA Group—the same group behind Johnny Rockets—opened the first Quiznos in the Philippines in Bonifacio High Street in 2012, with plans to open as many as 35 locations across the country over the succeeding years.
Besides its trademark toasted sandwiches, the Quiznos in Manila also offered rice meals, reportedly the first to do so anywhere in the world. Additional stores soon opened in places like Greenbelt 3, Alabang Town Center, Eastwood, Katipunan, and Shangri-La Plaza Mall.
Hard times hit the Quiznos parent company in the U.S. in the mid to late-2000s, when as many as 2,000 stores closed. The company filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy in 2014, which led to a drastic restructuring. That no doubt had an effect on the Quiznos franchise in the country, all of which have quietly shut down in recent years.
8| Applebee’s
Applebee’s is well-known in the U.S. as an operator of casual dining concept restaurants. Founded in 1980 Decatur, Georgia, Applebee’s aimed to create “neighborhood pub feel” that served quality fare and offered friendly service. It was acquired by IHOP in 2007, by which time it had already expanded and become one of the largest sit-down restaurant chains in the U.S.
As of the end of 2022, Applebee’s had about 1,678 restaurants worldwide.
In the Philippines, the first Applebee’s opened in BGC in September 2015. The group the brought the restaurant chain in was Global restaurant Concepts Inc., which was also behind IHOP and P.F. Chang’s. Applebee’s served classic fare including Potstickers, Sriracha shrimp, and wonton tacos, chicken wings, and many more. A second branch opened a year later in Eastwood Citywalk in Quezon City.
However, by 2017, Applebee’s had closed down as many as 130 stores in its home country of the U.S. Analysts said a rebrand meant to appeal to younger customers didn’t work. In the Philippines, the Applebee’s stores were already closedat the beginning of 2019.
