The new kid

Someday, the daily consumption of Chicken Joy may join beer as a quick economic indicator. Chicken Joy accounts for 35% to 40% of total sales of Jollibee Foods Corp., which generated system-wide gross sales of P24.1 billion last year.

In charge of pushing the chicken and other Jollibee products is new vice-president for marketing Carolina Inez Reyes.

"My deliverables are simple. I want to add value to the business by giving more to the business than what I am being paid to do," she said. "There is a need to sustain the business in an increasingly competitive environment. We compete against existing food franchises of foreign companies as well as against new and cheaper food alternatives.

To a large extent, the challenges currently facing Jollibee have already been identified by Reyes’s predecessor, Regina Navarette, who is now president of Greenwich Pizza Corp., a Jollibee subsidiary. "My job is to fine-tune on the twin challenges of growing both revenues and the brand," said Reyes.

To increase revenues this year by 10% to 15%, Jollibee intends to come up with new products that cater to the upscale market and that increase per capita consumption. It will also increase its chain of 400 plus stores, 60% of which are franchised, even as it renovates the older stores to make them look more spacious and brighter.

"In previous advertising campaigns, we talked about how great our food tasted and how reasonable our prices were. With the current ‘Bee Happy’ campaign, we’ve placed the campaign on a higher emotional level. The current campaign is our handle for a great store experience that we intend to deliver to our customers," said Reyes.

New and old

Consumer marketing is not new to Reyes. Until a month ago, she was pushing non-carbonated beverages for The Coca-Cola Export Corp. to companies such as Jollibee.

"It was hard to move from a good company like Coca-Cola," said Reyes. "I liked what I’ve heard about the Jollibee culture, which is run professionally within a family-like environment. At Jollibee, managers are highly empowered but whatever successes are made are always team, rather than individual, successes."

At part of her breaking process, Reyes trained for three days in a stand-alone store, which served breakfast starting at six in the morning. She also looked in at the commissary, which efficiently moves and tracks 2,000 items daily to more than 400 stores nationwide.

"The food business is ten times faster than the beverage business. The secret to staying on top is to make quick decisions that are grounded on facts," she said. Coming from a multinational company that places a lot of weight on analytical processes, it is clear what Reyes’s immediate contribution to the Jollibee organization will be.