Jollibee scouts for new buys in China , India this year
By Honey Madrilejos-Reyes
Correspondent
AFTER completing the acquisitions of Red Ribbon and Greenwich Pizza, leading fast food operator Jollibee Foods Corporation (JFC) is now scouting for a potential buy in India and China .
In an interview, JFC chairman Tony Tan Caktiong said they are aggressively looking for new acquisitions in the two countries that could complement and synergize with the fast food giant's existing brands.
He declined to identify, though the particular brand the company is targeting. JFC earlier penetrated the China market when it bought the 95 branches of Yonghe King.
This year, the group is planning to open at least 100 new stores located mostly in the country.
"We will be spending maybe P1 billion to finance the establishment of these stores. The financing will come from our internal fund," he said.
Included in that is the opening of a Red Ribbon branch in New Jersey , USA .
With operations in nine countries including the US, China, Indonesia, Vietnam and Hong Kong, JFC has plans of further expanding in other countries and in the Philippine market through the widening of store networks and acquisition of new businesses.
It will shortly start running a regional operating headquarters (ROHQ) in the country that will provide services to its foreign and domestic businesses.
The Jollibee worldwide services, said Tan Caktiong, will eventually employ about 800 people representing several support functions, starting with accounting services and employee services.
In preparation for its shared services, the group has invested P250 million over the past two years in upgrading and standardizing its information technology using Oracle System as its enterprise platform.
It will invest another P110 million for upgrading its building and work facilities for its shared services.
"Our first priority is to grow the business by growing same-store sales, expanding our store network, entering new geographies and acquiring new businesses. We also need to increase our productivity and this would come mainly from increasing the size of our businesses while keeping the size of our overheads stable," he said.
JFC holds the record of being the biggest fast food-operator in the Philippines . As of end-December 2005, it had a total of 1,237 stores in the country, broken down as follows: Jollibee brand, 529; Chowking, 328; Greenwich , 239; Red Ribbon, 140; and Delifrance, 37.
http://www.businessmirror.com.ph/2006/0213/13%20frontpage%20joliibee.php
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