Jollibee Foods Corp. (JFC) expects its recent menu price increases to have a negligible impact on consumer demand, even as the local fast-food giant pivots toward an aggressive, franchise-led global expansion to shield its profit margins.

Richard Shin, JFC chief financial and risk officer and Jollibee International chief executive officer, said the company remains confident about its growth trajectory despite persistent inflationary pressures.

Shin also dismissed concerns over the potential fallout from pricing adjustments implemented earlier this quarter.

He noted that the calculated price increases were structured specifically to absorb rising inventory costs without alienating budget-conscious consumers.

“When we did the math and the calculation, we don't need to tip the scale too far in terms of price increase to really be able to absorb that,” Shin said at the Philippine Stock Exchange’s Investor Day.

Thus, Jollibee still expects single-digit growth, or more, in both same-store sales and system-wide sales despite the price increases, while the firm is able to protect its gross profit margins.

In terms of opening new stores, Shin said the group will continue to grow. “Where there's a market and a demand and good RIC (return on invested capital), our cost of borrowing is significantly lower than the return on those. And, with an accelerated franchise opening plan, we continue to push that very hard.”

He cited that, in the US market, demand from franchisees has even been stronger recently despite concern over the impact of rising inflation.

“Yes, we've definitely seen impact, but the impact is very much wanting to open our stores… in April and May, the last few weeks, we're now getting multi-unit franchises of 50 units and above coming to us,” Shin said.

He explained that this is because, after Chick-fil-A and Raising Cane, Jollibee is the number three chicken restaurant in terms of annual unit volume (average daily sales times 365).

“Being number three in that category, in the fastest growing segment, which is chicken, and the cost of beef sort of having its challenges, we're in a very good place with a strong brand and we're only in 15 states in the US. So, I'm super excited about that,” Shin said.

Meanwhile, Jollibee’ Compose Coffee in South Korea is building on average of 30 stores a month, so it will deliver around 360 stores this year and these are all franchised.

For Highlands Coffee in Vietnam, the return on invested capital ranges from 33 percent to 47 percent for a payback period of two to 2.5 years so it continues to open franchised stores with a total of 250 slated to open in 2026.

For the entire Jollibee Group, Shin said “you can see the acceleration, so the ratio of franchise stores to company-owned store opening, it's night and day now in terms of all the new stores opening.”

In the case of Tim Ho Wan, which are all franchises except for Hong Kong, Singapore and China, Shin said there will be some capital investments by the company in the US since it is their number one market.

On the other hand, he said “we'll probably reduce exposure in China for Tim Ho Wan” because Jollibee is focusing more on the growth of Yonghe King which has an entrenched place in the Chinese cuisine space.