Jollibee Foods Corporation is proud to be the world’s largest and fastest growing Asian restaurant company.

The Filipino brand oversees a diverse portfolio. He bought The Coffee Bean & Tea Leaf for $ 350 million in 2019 and acquired a controlling stake in Smashburger in 2018 for $ 100 million. The parent company also operates Burger King and Panda Express stores in the Philippines.

The flagship brand, however, as the name suggests, is the Jollibee fast food chain. The chain has more than 1,400 locations around the world, with a presence in Europe, the Middle East, East Asia, South East Asia and North America. It was founded in 1978 in the Philippines, but did not reach America until 1998 in Daly City, California.

Of all these stores, only 66 are based in the United States and the rest of North America, but that is about to change. Jollibee plans to reach 300 locations across North America by 2024, well beyond the 12 states and four Canadian provinces in which it currently resides.

This year alone, the brand will open 28 stores, including downtown Chicago, downtown Times Square and the first store in downtown Vancouver.

“Our company’s grand vision is to become one of the top five restaurant companies in the world, and North America, for example, will be a key market for this international expansion,” said Maribeth Dela Cruz, President from Jollibee, North America.

Dela Cruz says the initial strategy is to enter markets where the brand already has strong brand awareness, which would be where there is a large concentration of Filipino Americans who have migrated to the United States among the top 10 metropolitan areas. with the largest Filipino population in 2019, five were in California, according to the Pew Research Center. Sure enough, Jollibee’s largest concentration in the United States is in the Golden State, with 23 units open and five more to come, according to the website.

Once these are filled, the plan is to expand beyond those areas, and Dela Cruz believes there is a demand for such a move. The executive says there is a growing interest and taste acceptance for international brands that are coming in with new flavors and diverse menus.

“These actually help fuel the growth of brands like Jollibee, so we’ve had a lot of interest in it,” says Dela Cruz. “The intention is to make sure that we have the store’s presence in various markets or in different markets, because at the end of the day, as they say, we want to patronize the brand, except that there is not a only store near me. So I think strategically it’s important that we can expand into a larger area, more locations across North America, so that can also help consumers reach us.