ABS-CBNnews.com
MANILA, Philippines - Singaporeans will soon get a taste of Chickenjoy, Yum burger and Jolly Spaghetti, as the Philippines' biggest fast food chain Jollibee is laying the groundwork to finally open a store in the city-state.
In a disclosure to the stock exchange, Jollibee Foods Corp. (JFC) said its wholly owned subsidiary Golden Plate Pte. Ltd. signed an agreement to form a company with Beeworks Inc. to open and operate Jollibee stores in Singapore.
The new company will be 60% owned by Golden Plate and 40% owned by Beeworks. Golden Plate will have full management control of the company, while leveraging on Beeworks' experience and network to establish Jollibee in Singapore.
JFC said the new Singapore company will have an initial funding of $1 million.
Beeworks is described as a company owned by mostly Singaporeans with experience in retail and hospitality sector.
There are currently 79 Jollibee stores around the world: 26 in the U.S., 32 in Vietnam, 11 in Brunei, 7 in Jeddah and 1 each in Hong Kong, Qatar and Kuwait.
JFC, the country's largest food service company, saw its profit grow by 8.1% to P682 million in the first three months of 2012, as its restaurants in the Philippines and other countries continued to show strong growth.
The company operates 2,004 stores in the Philippines, including Jollibee (752 ), Chowking (381), Greenwich (204), Red Ribbon (207), Mang Inasal (436) and Burger King (24).
Overseas, JFC operates Yonghe King and Hong Zhuang Yuan in China, as well as Jollibee, Red Ribbon, Chowking in the Middle East and Southeast Asia.
