Jollibee Prepares for Major U.S. Franchise Expansion: Jollibee is getting ready to open a lot of restaurants in North America. They want to grow their business in the United States and Canada by letting other people open Jollibee restaurants.
A lot of people in the United States already love Jollibee. Now they are going to try to make it big everywhere. Jollibee thinks the year 2026 is going to be very important for them to get bigger in the United States and Canada. Jollibee is a Filipino food place that people really like. They want to make sure everyone, in North America knows about Jollibee.
The brand wants to have 500 restaurants, in North America by 2030. They will do this by having some restaurants that the brand owns itself and some that are owned by people who pay to use the brand name. The brand will have a mix of these two types of restaurants.
Peter Wright, the vice president of franchising for Jollibee said that Jollibee is on track to have 500 units by the year 2030. Jollibee will open Jollibee locations that Jollibee owns and new Jollibee franchise locations, in different parts of the country in the year 2026.
Focused Growth in Proven Markets
Jollibee does not want to open a lot of stores in places they do not know well. Instead Jollibee wants to have stores in the areas where Jollibee is already doing a good job. For the year 2026 Jollibee will open most of its stores in California, Texas, Florida and the area, around New York.
Wright said that most of the openings we are planning for 2026 will be in areas where our company is already doing business. We want to make our brand really strong, in the places where people already know who we are so we are working on building that up in those regions.
When a new restaurant opens it helps make the marketing work better the operations run smoother. The restaurant becomes more well known in the local area. This is what we call an expansion strategy. It is like a circle that gets bigger and stronger with each restaurant that opens. The marketing efficiency of the restaurant gets better the operational support gets better. The local brand visibility of the restaurant gets better. This makes the whole ecosystem of the restaurant stronger, with every opening of a restaurant. The restaurant becomes an more popular place to eat with each new restaurant that opens.
Franchising Alongside Company-Owned Growth
Jollibee does not just franchise all of its restaurants like many other restaurant brands do. Instead Jollibee continues to open restaurants that Jollibee itself owns in addition, to the restaurants that are owned by franchise partners. This way of growing the business helps the franchise partners because they get to use a system that Jollibee knows works. Jollibee restaurants are successful because of this system.
One of the advantages, for people who own Jollibee franchises is that we already run a lot of Jollibee stores.
- We have everything we need to help the people who own Jollibee franchises from the start.
- We have the people and the tools to support Jollibee franchisees from day one Wright said.
Jollibee has than 100 stores that the company operates itself. This means Jollibee has a lot of experience with things, like finding locations running the stores, advertising and getting supplies. Jollibee brings this experience to the people who own Jollibee franchises.
Strong Unit Economics Attract Developers
People who know a lot about running franchises like Jollibee because of how well it does financially. Jollibee says that each restaurant makes about $4.5 million on average. This makes Jollibee one of the quick-service restaurant ideas out there. Jollibee is a deal, for people who want to start a franchise because of its strong financial performance.
These volumes are really appealing to developers Wright said. The thing is, there are not franchise opportunities that do this well and still have a lot of territory available. Developers like these volumes because they are very attractive, to developers.
The economics of this are really good. That is why it makes sense for Jollibee to build multiple units, which is a big part of Jollibees plan for franchising in the future. Jollibees franchising strategy is important. It will keep moving forward with this focus, on multi-unit development.
A flexible real estate strategy can create a lot of space for ideas. This is what people call space. The flexible real estate strategy is very important for creating this space. With a real estate strategy you can think of new things and try new ideas, which is what the flexible real estate strategy is all, about.
Jollibee is different from a lot of fast food places because it can change and adapt its real estate model. The company has different types of locations, such as standalone Jollibee restaurants Jollibee end caps, Jollibee inline stores Jollibee walk-up units and Jollibee stores, in malls.
The brand can go into city areas and also into suburbs and other kinds of spaces that are not typical. Wright says they care more about making it easy for customers to get to them than having a specific idea of what each place should look like. The brand wants to be in places where the customersre so they can get to the brand easily. This is what Wright means by customer access. It is more important to them, than having every place look the same. The brand is flexible. That is what lets them do this.
There are people who like fried chicken, in all kinds of markets. Our company can be flexible so we can sell fried chicken to these customers wherever they happen to be. We have fried chicken that these customers want. We can meet their needs.
Jollibee has a business plan with strong numbers a flexible way of dealing with real estate and a fair mix of franchise and company owned locations. This means Jollibee is getting ready to grow over the country.
As the year 2026 gets closer Jollibee seems ready to become a name everywhere in North America not just a favorite of a few people. Jollibee is making a change from being a favorite, to a big brand that everyone knows.
What Do You Think?
Q: Do you think Jollibee has the potential to become a major fast-food competitor across the U.S., or will it remain strongest in select regional markets?
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