ADVERTISEMENT
Manila Bulletin devider Business devider The Stock Market devider Jollibee's Smashburger drives turnaround with strong US franchise expansion

Jollibee's Smashburger drives turnaround with strong US franchise expansion

Published Apr 14, 2026 12:11 pm

The Jollibee Group’s “better burger” brand Smashburger continues to expand in the United States (US) with the opening of 10 to 12 stores through franchising this year, even as the brand reports a turnaround to double-digit same-store sales growth in the first quarter.

In a business update disclosed to the Philippine Stock Exchange (PSE) on Tuesday, April 14, Jollibee said the franchise stores support its continued network growth across both traditional and non-traditional formats.

This includes recently awarded sites across key non-traditional locations, with five in airports and one in a university.

A traditional franchised store that opened in Huntersville, North Carolina, in February has delivered strong early performance since opening, indicating healthy customer demand.

On the other hand, non-traditional franchised formats continue to perform robustly, benefiting from captive, high-traffic environments such as sports arenas, airports, and universities. These formats support attractive returns for franchisees, driving increased franchise interest.

“The sustained improvement in Smashburger’s performance reflects disciplined execution and a clearer value proposition in a competitive market,” said Jollibee Group International Chief Executive Officer (CEO) Richard Shin.

He added that, “The strong results we’re seeing across franchise formats, particularly in non-traditional locations, reinforce the brand’s scalability and support our asset-light growth strategy within the Jollibee Group’s international portfolio.”

With improving same-store sales and a growing base of high-performing franchise formats, Shin said Smashburger is strengthening its role as a scalable, asset-light growth platform within the Jollibee Group’s brand portfolio.

Smashburger saw strong commercial momentum following the successful launch of a marketing campaign in the third quarter of 2025, with same-store sales for company-owned stores significantly improving from negative mid-teen levels at the start of the campaign rollout to positive double-digit growth by March 2026, driven by higher transaction volumes.

Smashburger has also delivered strong gains in average daily sales for company-owned stores, driven by stronger consumer response to its refreshed brand positioning and value offerings.

“We’re seeing a clear shift in consumer response, with higher transaction volumes reflecting improved relevance in our menu innovations and value offerings,” said Smashburger CEO Jim Sullivan.

He said, “Our focus has been simple: serve delicious food people genuinely enjoy, offer value they can feel, and make every visit reliably good. That’s what earns repeat visits—and that momentum shows up in stronger store performance.”

Recent trends show Smashburger delivering high-teens transaction and average daily sales growth in company-owned stores, boosted by a strong product innovation pipeline and amplified by the introduction of its $4.99 value platform.

Product quality has also received external recognition, with Smashburger ranked number one among seven chain restaurants for the best smashburger cheeseburgers by Eat This, Not That!

Smashburger is strengthening brand relevance and local market connection through targeted sports and experiential partnerships.

Related Tags

Jollibee Foods Corporation Richard Shin Smashburger Jim Sullivan Jollibee Group International
ADVERTISEMENT
.most-popular .layout-ratio{ padding-bottom: 79.13%; } @media (min-width: 768px) and (max-width: 1024px) { .widget-title { font-size: 15px !important; } }

{{ articles_filter_1561_widget.title }}

{{ item.title }}
.most-popular .layout-ratio{ padding-bottom: 79.13%; } @media (min-width: 768px) and (max-width: 1024px) { .widget-title { font-size: 15px !important; } }

{{ articles_filter_1562_widget.title }}

{{ item.title }}
.most-popular .layout-ratio{ padding-bottom: 79.13%; } @media (min-width: 768px) and (max-width: 1024px) { .widget-title { font-size: 15px !important; } }

{{ articles_filter_1563_widget.title }}

{{ item.title }}

{{ articles_filter_1564_widget.title }}

{{ item.title }}
.mb-article-details { position: relative; } .mb-article-details .article-body-preview, .mb-article-details .article-body-summary{ font-size: 17px; line-height: 30px; font-family: "Libre Caslon Text", serif; color: #000; } .mb-article-details .article-body-preview iframe , .mb-article-details .article-body-summary iframe{ width: 100%; margin: auto; } .read-more-background { background: linear-gradient(180deg, color(display-p3 1.000 1.000 1.000 / 0) 13.75%, color(display-p3 1.000 1.000 1.000 / 0.8) 30.79%, color(display-p3 1.000 1.000 1.000) 72.5%); position: absolute; height: 200px; width: 100%; bottom: 0; display: flex; justify-content: center; align-items: center; padding: 0; } .read-more-background a{ color: #000; } .read-more-btn { padding: 17px 45px; font-family: Inter; font-weight: 700; font-size: 18px; line-height: 16px; text-align: center; vertical-align: middle; border: 1px solid black; background-color: white; } .hidden { display: none; }
function initializeAllSwipers() { // Get all hidden inputs with cms_article_id document.querySelectorAll('[id^="cms_article_id_"]').forEach(function (input) { const cmsArticleId = input.value; const articleSelector = '#article-' + cmsArticleId + ' .body_images'; const swiperElement = document.querySelector(articleSelector); if (swiperElement && !swiperElement.classList.contains('swiper-initialized')) { new Swiper(articleSelector, { loop: true, pagination: false, navigation: { nextEl: '#article-' + cmsArticleId + ' .swiper-button-next', prevEl: '#article-' + cmsArticleId + ' .swiper-button-prev', }, }); } }); } setTimeout(initializeAllSwipers, 3000); const intersectionObserver = new IntersectionObserver( (entries) => { entries.forEach((entry) => { if (entry.isIntersecting) { const newUrl = entry.target.getAttribute("data-url"); if (newUrl) { history.pushState(null, null, newUrl); let article = entry.target; // Extract metadata const author = article.querySelector('.author-section').textContent.replace('By', '').trim(); const section = article.querySelector('.section-info ').textContent.replace(' ', ' '); const title = article.querySelector('.article-title h1').textContent; // Parse URL for Chartbeat path format const parsedUrl = new URL(newUrl, window.location.origin); const cleanUrl = parsedUrl.host + parsedUrl.pathname; // Update Chartbeat configuration if (typeof window._sf_async_config !== 'undefined') { window._sf_async_config.path = cleanUrl; window._sf_async_config.sections = section; window._sf_async_config.authors = author; } // Track virtual page view with Chartbeat if (typeof pSUPERFLY !== 'undefined' && typeof pSUPERFLY.virtualPage === 'function') { try { pSUPERFLY.virtualPage({ path: cleanUrl, title: title, sections: section, authors: author }); } catch (error) { console.error('ping error', error); } } // Optional: Update document title if (title && title !== document.title) { document.title = title; } } } }); }, { threshold: 0.1 } ); function showArticleBody(button) { const article = button.closest("article"); const summary = article.querySelector(".article-body-summary"); const body = article.querySelector(".article-body-preview"); const readMoreSection = article.querySelector(".read-more-background"); // Hide summary and read-more section summary.style.display = "none"; readMoreSection.style.display = "none"; // Show the full article body body.classList.remove("hidden"); } document.addEventListener("DOMContentLoaded", () => { let loadCount = 0; // Track how many times articles are loaded const offset = [1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10]; // Offset values const currentUrl = window.location.pathname.substring(1); let isLoading = false; // Prevent multiple calls if (!currentUrl) { console.log("Current URL is invalid."); return; } const sentinel = document.getElementById("load-more-sentinel"); if (!sentinel) { console.log("Sentinel element not found."); return; } function isSentinelVisible() { const rect = sentinel.getBoundingClientRect(); return ( rect.top < window.innerHeight && rect.bottom >= 0 ); } function onScroll() { if (isLoading) return; if (isSentinelVisible()) { if (loadCount >= offset.length) { console.log("Maximum load attempts reached."); window.removeEventListener("scroll", onScroll); return; } isLoading = true; const currentOffset = offset[loadCount]; window.loadMoreItems().then(() => { let article = document.querySelector('#widget_1690 > div:nth-last-of-type(2) article'); intersectionObserver.observe(article) loadCount++; }).catch(error => { console.error("Error loading more items:", error); }).finally(() => { isLoading = false; }); } } window.addEventListener("scroll", onScroll); });
Join Our Newsletters

Sign up by email to receive news.

© 2025 Manila Bulletin The Nation's Leading Newspaper. All Rights Reserved.