SHOWBIZ BEAT MEDIA

The Filipino well-loved fastfood brand famous for its crispy and yummy Chickenjoy kicked off its 45th anniversary celebration via an eyecatching LED billboard along EDSA (near Boni Avenue and Guadalupe) featuring the said product as well as Jollibee himself.

It’s theme for this year, ‘Share the Joy’ couldn’t be more apt, as last January 18, it opened its first Orlando store. According to Jollibee Group President and CEO Ernesto Tanmantiong, the Filipino corporation eyes to expand to 500 more North American branches within 5 to 7 years.

There is definitely a demand for the fastfood within the American population itself and not just the Filipino Community abroad, as evidenced by Newsweek and Statista naming the fastfood chain together with 3 others America’s favorites.

Jollibee Orlando will definitely be a restaurant sensation as it features the first ever two-lane drive-thru of the fastfood chain in the U.S.

An independent survey involving over 4,000 customers and employees was done to come up with the results. Towards the end of 2022, Jollibee was named as “the best fried chicken in America” by food key opinion leader Eater.com after it rose above 14 international brands, including really popular ones like Shake Shack and Bonchon, determined by four competitive rounds.

An icing on the cake for their anniversary season is the victory of Jollibee Worldwide last Jan. 10 (made public Jan. 13) over the commissioner of internal revenue (CIR) for excess taxes collected from the company for fiscal year 2009. The successful refund claim means the CIR will either refund the P18.48 million or issue them a tax credit certificate, according to the Court of Tax Appeals.

Jollibee has certainly come a long way from 1975, when it was first opened as a Magnolia ice cream parlor by Tony Tan Caktiong. It currently has 1,300 branches globally and has penetrated the following territories aside from the U.S.: Brunei, Kuwait, Saudi Arabia, Bahrain, United Arab Emirates, Malaysia, Guam, Hong Kong, Vietnam, Qatar, Singapore, Canada, Oman, Italy, Macau, United Kingdom, and Spain.

*Cover Photo/Thumbnail Photo from Facebook (@Jollibee)