By JAMES A. LOYOLA Jollibee, the flagship brand of Jollibee Foods Corporation (JFC), ended 2019 with back-to-back milestone openings in Chandler, the first in the state of Arizona, USA; and Regina, the first in the province of Saskatchewan, Canada. In a statement, JFC said the openings were greeted by thousands of people in line, many of whom camped out for as long as 3 days amid extremely cold temperatures. The two openings bring Jollibee’s total store count in the US and Canada to 50, and are part of the brand’s accelerated North American expansion plan to grow to 250 stores – 150 branches in the US and 100 branches in Canada. In 2019 alone, Jollibee more than doubled its store count in Canada. For 2020, the brand’s expansion in Canada will focus on Ontario, Manitoba, Alberta, British Columbia, and Quebec. At the same time, the brand’s areas of focus in the US will be in Florida, New Jersey, New York, Maryland, Texas, Nevada, California, and Hawaii. The Arizona store is located at 2800 E Germann Road, Chandler, AZ 85288; while the Regina store is located at 2830 Quance Street, Regina, SK, S4V 3B9. For the Philippines, JFC Vice President for Restaurant Systems Jon Villanueva said the brand opened 73 branches in 2019. He added that they are planning to open around 100 more Jollibee stores in the Philippines this year even as they upgrade existing stores with better interiors and self-order kiosks to improve the customer experience. Villanueva said they now have about 60 stores equipped with self-order kiosks and expect the total to hit over 200 stores in 2020. Jollibee is the flagship brand of Jollibee Foods Corporation. JFC is one of the world’s largest and fastest growing Asian restaurant companies with more than 5,800 stores across 15 brands in 35 countries.