Restaurant operator Jollibee Foods Corp. said Monday it will expand its Vietnamese pho chain brand PHO24 in the Philippines with a target to open 100 stores over the long term.
Jollibee said it would launch this year three PHO24 stores with the first opening scheduled in February at the Jollibee Tower in Ortigas Center, Pasig City.
“We are looking forward to the new store openings of PHO24 this year as part of plans for the long-term strategic growth of the Jollibee Group,” said Jollibee country business group head Joseph Tanbuntiong.
“Aside from the openings, we are also developing the brand’s own delivery platform to cater to the increasing demand and to reach new customers. We will also be launching new products, which we believe will excite our customers and make them crave PHO24 more,” Tanbuntiong said.
PHO24 serves authentic Vietnamese dishes with pho as its signature product. The Jollibee Group has been operating PHO24 in the country since 2018.
PHO24’s first branch is at the Double Dragon Meridian Park in Pasay.
“We have seen the growing love of Filipinos for authentic Vietnamese cuisine, and PHO24’s expansion in the Philippines provides Filipino foodies with distinctly different pho meals that are both tasty and nutritious,” Tanbuntiong said.
He said that despite the challenges of the COVID-19 pandemic, PHO24 achieved significant milestones in 2020. In the second quarter of 2020, it launched online ordering platform, increasing Filipino fans’ access to its menu.
It also launched two new products and two variants of home meal kits that contributed significantly to daily sales.
PHO24 is owned and operated by the SuperFoods Group, a 60-40 joint venture between Jollibee and Viet Thai International.
Jollibee operates the largest food service network in the Philippines. It also has presence in 33 countries.
It has eight wholly-owned brands (Jollibee, Chowking, Greenwich, Red Ribbon, Mang Inasal, Yonghe King, Hong Zhuang Yuan and Smashburger) and three franchised brands (Burger King and Panda Express in the Philippines, Dunkin’ Donuts and Tim Ho Wan in certain territories in China), 80-percent ownership of The Coffee Bean and Tea Leaf and 60-percent ownership in the SuperFoods Group that owns Highlands Coffee and PHO24 brands.
