Jollibee Foods, Yoshinoya form joint venture

Homegrown fast-food giant Jollibee Foods Corporation (JFC) said Tuesday it will establish a joint venture with Yoshinoya International Philippines Inc. (YIPI) to operate and expand the “Yoshinoya” brand in the Philippines. 

The structure of the joint venture will be 50/50 between JFC and Yoshinoya Philippines.

The joint venture company will be the franchisee for “Yoshinoya” in the Philippines, JFC said in a statement.

The completion of the transaction is subject to standard legal agreements and regulatory authority approval.

YIPI is the Philippine subsidiary of Asia Yoshinoya International SDN BHD and Yoshinoya Holdings Co. Ltd., the trademark owner of the Yoshinoya System. 

YIPI currently operates three Yoshinoya stores in the Philippines. 

Yoshinoya is a beef bowl business based in Japan and one of the largest and most recognized Japanese restaurant brands globally, with over 2,000 stores worldwide. 

The joint venture plans to open 50 stores in the Philippines in the long-term.

“We are very pleased to enter this joint venture with the largest food service company in the Philippines. Jollibee will certainly have a significant positive impact on Yoshinoya’s business in the country, with its extensive consumer knowledge, operational focus and presence in the Philippines. This partnership presents us a great opportunity to increase the potential growth of Yoshinoya in the Philippines,” said Yasutaka Kawamura, CEO and president of Yoshinoya Holdings Co. Ltd.

For his part, JFC chairman Tony Tan Caktiong said, “We are truly thrilled to have the opportunity to partner with YIPI and grow the Yoshinoya brand in the Philippines. JFC will benefit from Yoshinoya’s experience and know-how in Japanese cuisine. The Philippines remains JFC’s most important market and Yoshinoya will be a strong addition to our presence in the country. I am confident that this is the beginning of a long-term and much larger partnership.”

JFC operates the largest food service and restaurant company in the Philippines with five wholly-owned brands — Jollibee, Chowking, Greenwich, Red Ribbon, and Mang Inasal — which are market leaders in their respective segments.

Meanwhile, Yoshinoya is JFC’s first ever Japanese food chain. 

“The Yoshinoya brand will be a strong addition to the foreign franchised brands currently being operated by JFC in the Philippines, namely: Burger King (with 98 stores), PHO 24 (1 store) and Panda Express (1 store),” the fast-food group said.

These brands contribute 3.5% to JFC’s Philippine business’ system wide sales. 

Yoshinoya’s contribution to JFC’s system wide sales will not be significant yet as it has very limited number of stores, but it has huge opportunity to increase sales by taking advantage of the strong demand for food delivery, according to JFC.

Yoshinoya’s food, particularly its signature gyudon beef bowl holds very well for delivery, it said.

JFC said it aims to be the leading market developer of foreign restaurant brands in the country, making it the partner of choice. 

In the long-term, the company plans to have close to 400 stores for its foreign franchised brands in the Philippines. 

JFC noted it sees high potential for broad acceptance across the country for these foreign franchised brands as it expects expansion of the upper middle class in the country in the long-term as it will create demand for a wider variety of food products including those from foreign brands. 

The goal of these foreign franchised brands is to contribute to the sustainable growth of the domestic business by successfully building the brands and growing each brand to be the leader in its market segment, it said.

These foreign franchised brands also create benefits such as economies of scale, synergies in organization and supply chain allowing them to be profitable in a short period of time, the company said. —Ted Cordero/KG, GMA News