Jollibee Foods Corporation is planning to ramp up the expansion of its business in China through a capital-light strategy by focusing more on franchising its Yonghe King stores while further developing the market for its more premium Tim Ho Wan brand. Jollibee Foods Corp. Chief Finance Officer Richard Shin

“China is one of our strategic markets along with the US and Philippines. So it is all about growth. What we're seeing right now is a decent base of 505 stores with three Chinese cuisine brands… and our growth strategy is to continue in that segment,” said Jollibee Chief Finance Officer Richard Shin in a media briefing. He noted that quick service restaurants is a significantly important segment in China, “and we believe that our three brands have upside mobility, and gain.” “Yonghe King, which is our biggest of the three brands, we've now more or less covered all the tier-one cities and it's a combination of company owned stores with a sprinkle of franchised stores, “Our strategy starting from this year is to really elevate that base through a significant store openings and… and that will come through a very capital-light option of franchising, “So, with those tier-one cities, we're now able to satellite into neighboring tier-two cities. And that's where we'll be opening Yonghe Kings through the franchise model,” Shin said. He said they are planning to open about 100 to 150 stores in China this year. Meanwhile, he said the group will continue to build the “premium-ness” if their Michelin star business Tim Ho Wan, which is a dim sum concept coming from Hong Kong that features a slightly more elevated dining experience. For Tim Ho Wan, Shin said “we're not looking at a large footprint expansion, but rather building off of the 18 stores that we have. And we'll be adding five new stores this year, again, going to key geographic cities where we believe that the brand could start to really take on above, I guess, QSR level opportunity.”