Can Jollibee Beat American Fast Food at Its Own Game?

The United States exported fast-food culture to the Philippines. Over the decades—and notably since 1998, when the first Jollibee restaurant opened in the San Francisco Bay Area—the Philippines has been serving it back. In this piece, Atlantic staff writer Yasmin Tayag trace’s the Filipino fast-food giant’s global rise: its parent corporation now operates more than 1,800 locations around the world, and has over 10,000 stores under 19 other food and coffee brands. Tayag especially highlights Jollibee’s expansion in North America, the way it adapts its flavors for a “mainstream” audience, and the warmth and joy the brand aims to deliver alongside its tasty menu.

Culinary ambitions ran in the family. Tanmantiong’s father had cooked at a Chinese temple in Manila before opening a restaurant in the southern city of Davao. In 1975, Tan Caktiong borrowed family money to open two Manila franchises of Magnolia, a popular Filipino ice-cream company established by a U.S. volunteer Army cook. With college graduation and a wedding imminent, Tan Caktiong figured that ice cream was as good a way as any to make a living. But before long, he started serving burgers too, bringing on his sister to develop recipes and Tanmantiong to manage operations. He renamed his restaurants Jollibee, which captured the family’s business ethos: Employees should work as hard and harmoniously as bees, but unless they’re happy, that kind of effort is “not worth it,” Tanmantiong said. Jollibee’s burgers were soon outselling the ice cream.