MANILA, PHILIPPINES – With over 5,900 stores as one of the largest Asian restaurant companies in the world, today’s generation may easily view Jollibee Foods Corporation (JFC) Group of Companies like any successful conglomerate — such a giant must’ve always been a giant. It’s easy to forget the humble beginnings of large companies, especially when they’re taking over the world by storm.
Amid the viral videos and news every time a Jollibee store launches in another country (currently with 1400 stores in 16 countries including PH), not everybody knows about its early days in the mid-70s in Cubao as a Magnolia ice cream franchise, until hamburgers outsold ice cream, prompting the family to shift the business to hamburgers.
This was how Dondi Gomez, Chief Marketing Officer of the Jollibee Group of Companies, prefaced his session at the recent adobo Festival of Ideas last December 5 at the Newport Performing Arts Theater, Resorts World Manila. Titled “Working Together to Spread the Joy of Eating to Everyone,” Dondi’s session tackled how this global Filipino brand thrives in a highly competitive global fast food market, how it has embarked on a global expansion while partnering with numerous brands and like-minded individuals, institutions, and communities to spread the joy of eating great tasting food.
As he walked the audience through the 41-year story of Jollibee and valuable entrepreneurial lessons learned from founder and chairman Tony Tan Caktiong, Dondi answered one of the most common and frequently asked questions about the brand: Why is it called Jollibee and why did they choose a bee for a mascot? The short answer would be that the bee symbolizes teamwork and hard work while “jolly” represents the joy in working together to provide good honey, the fruits of hard work.
One of Jollibee’s flagship products, the Yum burger, continues to be a bestseller today, as well as several products that were offered within its first decade: the famous sweet-style spaghetti that has come to represent Pinoy pasta; the Chickenjoy, the palabok, and the peach mango pie among others.
Dondi emphasized that one of the secrets behind the company’s success lies in being a business that’s firmly rooted in its core values. “One of the things that was ingrained by our founders is that we are not just a team— we are a family,” Dondi shared, flashing nostalgic photos from the company’s archives.
Dondi Gomez, @Jollibee CMO, shares the story of Jollibee Food Corporation’s story of growth while remaining a thriving family business. #adoboFOI2019 pic.twitter.com/aSrLmhInZb
— adobo magazine (@adobomagazine) December 5, 2019
Another crucial ingredient behind JFC’s rapid growth is how it used collaboration through partnerships with other brands, even potential competitors in the same industry, to increase its chance at succeeding in its global expansion efforts. “It takes one Filipino brand to go global. If we break in the global scene, we hope other Filipino brands can break free from their emotional barriers,” he added.
Today, JFC owns and operates 15 brands in 35 countries. JFC has also nurtured partnerships and relationships in other sectors such as education (partnered with Ateneo de Manila University in building JFC University, and launching the ACE Scholarship Program for 2,000 underprivileged high school students) and the government in several nation-building and community development projects under the Jollibee Group Foundation.
So what is the secret to a successful collaboration? Dondi concluded his inspiring session by enumerating some of the key strategies that has propelled Jollibee Foods Corporation (JFC) from being a humble burger joint competing against a famous international fast food chain to being among the 200 Asian companies in Forbes’ Billion-Dollar List. In the words of JFC Founder and Chairman Tony Tan Caktiong, “Choose and surround yourself with people whose capabilities are far greater than yours, and likewise share the same dream, passion, values, and principles. I can assure you that you cannot do it alone.”
Learn about these key strategies and other valuable insights from Dondi’s session at the fifth adobo Festival of Ideas in the video below.
