These Are All the Food Brands That the Jollibee Group Owns and Operates

Every Filipino knows Jollibee. Some might even be aware of all the other food businesses the company owns beyond the flagship brand. But not a lot of people are aware that Jollibee Foods Corp. (JFC), the parent company and the country’s largest food service network also operates several other food brands in the country and across the world. 

As of the end of February 2021, the JFC Group reported owning and operating 3,211 outlets in the Philippines, and 2,601 stores overseas for a total of 5,812 restaurants worldwide.

These are all the food brands that Jollibee owns and operates (based on the latest company disclosure to the Philippine Stock Exchange):

Photo by JOLLIBEE.

1| Jollibee

The flagship brand is the Philippines’ largest fastfood chain. Tony TanCaktiong opened the very first Jollibee store in the country in 1978 (although the store began life as an ice cream parlor that opened in 1975).

There are currently 1,482 Jollibee stores around the globe: 1,185 are here in the Philippines, and 297 in various other countries—141 Jollibee stores in Vietnam, 47 in the United States, 18 in Brunei, 16 in Canada, 16 in the United Arab Emirates, 12 in Saudi Arabia, 10 in Qatar, 10 in Hong Kong, 11 in Singapore, six in Kuwait, three in the United Kingdom, two in Italy, one in Bahrain, one in Macau, one in Malaysia, and one in Guam. 

2| Chowking

The first Chowking opened in the Philippines in 1985 and JFC acquired it in 2000. Of course, we know it as the chain that serves fastfood versions of Chinese-inspired cuisine (plus a pretty good halo-halo). There are currently 569 Chowking branches in the Philippines, plus another 48 overseas (20 in the U.A.E., 15 in the U.S., four in Qatar, two in Oman 2, four in Kuwait, and three in Saudi Arabia), for a total of 617 stores worldwide.

3| Greenwich

Believe it or not, the Greenwich Pizza chain of restaurants precedes even that of Jollibee. The first Greenwich opened in 1971 inside the Greenhills Shopping Center. By 1994, it had 50 branches across the country. JFC bought 80 percent of Greenwich in 1994 and completed the full acquisition in 2006.

Today, there are 272 Greenwich branches in the Philippines.

4| Red Ribbon

Red Ribbon first opened as a small cake shop in Quezon City in 1979. JFC acquired it in 2005.

Currently there are 526 Red Ribbon Bakeshops around the world: 495 in the Philippines and 31 in the U.S.

5| Mang Inasal

Mang Inasal’s story is well-known. Founded by Edgar “Injap” Sia II in Iloilo in 2003*, the BBQ chicken chain became so popular it attracted the attention of JFC, which bought 70 percent of the food chain in 2010 for $3 billion. JFC completed the acquisition in 2016.

There are currently 591 branches of Mang Inasal nationwide.

6| Burger King

Burger King, of course, is an American food chain based out of Florida, USA. The Philippine franchise used to be owned by the Ayala group, which sold its stake to a group led by Alberto Lina and Manny Pangilinan. In 2011, Jollibee paid P65.5 million to acquire a 54 percent stake in the company.  

There are 97 Burger King stores in the country today.

7| Pho24

Vietnamese brand Pho24 first opened in Ho Chi Minh City in 2003. In 2018, JFC bought into the company that owns the brand when it entered into a 60-40 joint venture with Viet Thai International to create SuperFoods Group, which owns other food brands (elsewhere in this list).

There are currently 38 branches of Pho24 in Vietnam, 16 in Indonesia, and the first one just opened in the Philippines this year, for a total of 55 stores.

8| Panda Express

The first Panda Express restaurant opened in Glendale, California in 1983. It currently has over 2,200 stores worldwide. In 2019, JFC created JBPX Foods Inc., a joint venture with the Panda Restaurant Group to bring Panda Express to the Philippines.

The first Panda Express in the Philippines opened in SM Megamall later that year, although the company has already announced a second branch will open soon in SM City North EDSA.

Photo by HIGHLANDS COFFEE.

9| Highlands Coffee

Vietnam-based Highlands Coffee was established by Vietnamese-American David Thai in 1998. It has since been acquired by Jollibee through its JV SuperFoods Group. 

There are 49 Highlands Coffee branches in the Philippines and 439 in Vietnam, for a total of 488 stores.

10| Yonghe King

Yonghe King is a fast-food noodle store founded in 1995 and based out of Shanghai, China. JFC first bought an 85 percent stake in the holding company that owns the brand in 2004 and completed the acquisition in 2016 when it bought out a manufacturing unit that makes food products for Yonghe King and other businesses.

Yonghe King now has 349 stores all over China.

11| Hong Zhuang Yuan

Hong Zhuang Yuan is a Beijing-based congee restaurant chain, which JFC acquired in 2008 for P2.5 billion. 

Hong Zhuang Yuan currently has 32 branches across China.

12| Dunkin’ Donuts

Founded in Massachusetts in 1950, Dunkin’ Donuts is one of the world’s most popular coffee and donuts chains. In 2015, JFC, through its subsidiary Jollibee Worldwide, signed a 60-40 JV with Jasmine Asset Holding to develop and expand Dunkin’ Donuts in China. 

Today, JFC operates three Dunkin’ Donuts stores in China. (A different company owns the Dunkin' Donuts franchise in the Philippines).

Photo by Jollibee Group.

13| Tim Ho Wan

Founded in 2009 in Hong Kong, Tim Ho Wan is famous for its pork buns and for being awarded a coveted Michelin star within its first year of operations. In 2018, Jollibee announced it was investing $33.7 million in the fund that controls the Tim Ho Wan brand master franchise across Asia Pacific except in Hong Kong. JFC hiked that interest up to 85 percent in October last year.

JFC currently operates just one Tim Ho Wan store in Shanghai, China—the first one in that country—as a franchisee, but the company expects to acquire a substantial ownership in the master franchise when the term of the fund ends in 2025. (Update: Jollibee completed its buyout of Tim Ho Wan this year). 

14|Hard Rock Café

Hard Rock Café is best known as a theme restaurant centered around rock and roll and music memorabilia. The two American founders opened the first branch in London in 1971. In Vietnam, Hard Rock Café is operated under the Superfoods Group, which is a JV between Jollibee and Viet Thai International.

There are two Hard Rock Cafes in Vietnam today.

Photo by Jollibee Group.

15| Smashburger

Smashburger was founded as a fast casual burger restaurant in Denver, Colorado, USA in 2007. JFC bought into the company in 2015 when it acquired a 40 percent stake for $100 million, and eventually increased ownership to 100 percent in 2018.

Smashburger currently has 235 outlets in the US and other countries worldwide.

Photo by Jollibee Group.

16| The Coffee Bean and Tea Leaf

The Coffee Bean and Tea Leaf was founded in 1963 in Los Angeles, California. JFC ponied up $350 million in 2019 to acquire the coffee chain.

CBTL currently has 1,061 branches worldwide. 

*The list does not include food brands where Jollibee is not the controlling entity. For example, Jollibee also bought a stake in celebrity chef Rick Bayless’ Tortas Frontera in 2018, but the chef and other investors still retain majority control of the company. Jollibee also announced a 50-50 joint venture with Japanese food chain Yoshinoya earlier this year.

*A previous version of this story indicated that Mang Inasal was founded in 1993. We regret the error.