CHOMPING "THE CHAMP" IN NEW YORK

BY ROGER PE


When Jollibee, the global Filipino fastfood chain serving burgers, fried chicken, pasta and other Filipino dishes, opened in Queens, New York, the lines were not only out the door on Roosevelt Avenue, they went around the block. By afternoon, the line circled around another. The next day, Sunday, yellow caution tapes strung up around the restaurant keeping the crowd in place.

The Champ is chomping the U. S. East Coast after taking the West side by storm. Already, there are two dozens Jollibee stores spanning across California cities of San Francisco, Los Angeles, San Diego, Daly, West Covina, etc.

Jollibee’s best seller Champ, a succulent beefy burger that is distinctly Filipino will surely delight burger-crazy Americans as it has conquered burger lovers all over the world.

Chicken Joy, its famous chartbuster will surely make a run for the colonel’s chicken. And that tangy-sweet spaghetti, Philippine-version, will even make Italians swear by it. Oh, yes, Jollibee will sing “Bye, Bye, Miss American Pie”. Reason: its Peach Mango Pie will surely win your hearts.

Jollibee is one the Philippines’ biggest advertisers on national tv, having dominated the fastfood market and outdistanced McDonalds in terms of number of stores across the 7,100 island archipelago for many years.

It has endeared itself to more than 87 million Filipinos by creating an image of warm, friendly, family-bonding place through “At Home, Ka Dito” (You Are Home, Here) campaign. Its previous campaign was “Langhap-Sarap” (Smells Delicious) and currently uses award-winning actor and Filipino matinee idol Aga Muhlach as spokesperson.

Forbes Asia Magazine recognized Jollibee in 2005 as one of the 200 best under a Billion companies in Asia out of 11,000 Asian public companies. London-based financial magazine Euromoney awarded it as “Best at Consumer Goods” in its 10th annual poll of Asia’s Best Managed Companies.

Today, the once-family ice cream parlor has become one of the biggest fastfood chains in the world with 1,655 stores worldwide. As of March 2008, Jollibee has 1,466 stores in the Philippines, namely Jollibee (627), Chowking (377) Greenwich Pizza (236) Red Ribbon (194) and Delifrance (28), including 228 foreign stores located in Indonesia, Malaysia, Hongkong, Vietnam, Taiwan, Brunei, China, Saudi Arabia and United Arab Emirates.