Jollibee Foods Corp to expand presence in Vietnam, MidEast

MANILA, Philippines - Jollibee Foods Corp. said yesterday it will strengthen its presence in Vietnam and the Middle East.

In an interview with reporters on the sidelines of yesterday’s Franchise Asia 2011 International Conference, Jollibee chairman and chief executive Tony Tan Caktiong said they would like to strengthen their presence in new markets like the Middle East and Vietnam.

The food chain already has outlets in Vietnam and the Middle East. Caktiong said the growth in the international market is faster than that of the local market and the goal is to make the revenue contribution between domestic and international 50-50. The contribution of the international market to revenues is around 20 percent.

Jollibee has 795 stores, 52 percent of which are in the Philippines.

In the meantime, Caktiong said they are not eyeing any new brands but said they are always open to new potential products and brands. He said they are happy with their growth in the Chinese market “We are still growing,” he said. “We are happy with the result.”

Meanwhile in the same conference, World Franchise Council Chairman Sammie Lim said they would like to ask for government support for franchise. He said that the income tax holiday should be extended to franchisers. Likewise, he said the government must come up with a $1 million franchise fund which will help develop franchise ideas.

Lim said the Franchise Asia 2011 is expected to attract around 50,000 quality visitors, of which 12,500 actual franchise outlets could be made. “Ideally, each franchise, statistically speaking, will be making an average investment of P 4 million, which then translates to a total of P 50 billion worth of investments in the next three years,” Lim said.

These businesses will in turn, bring in P200 billion in sales during the same amount of time, fueling a big part of the country’s economic activity.

Franchising has been acknowledged as the fastest growing sector in the Philippines as of late, Lim said. Today, there are more than 125,000 franchisees offering the products and services of over 1,300 franchisors in the country.