METRO MANILA – Jollibee Foods Corporation (PSE: JFC) – Update following Jan. 15, 2026 Press Release
Metro Manila, Philippines – The Jollibee Group today reported positive developments across its Coffee and Tea and Chinese Cuisine segments, reflecting strong execution, disciplined expansion, and continued momentum across key international markets.
Coffee and tea segment: accelerated growth driven by key coffee brands
The Coffee segment delivered robust expansion, supported by new store openings across Compose Coffee and Highlands Coffee. Combined, the segment recorded strong percentage growth alongside a healthy pipeline of new store openings (NSOs), reinforcing the Group’s confidence in the long-term potential of its Coffee and Tea portfolio.
South Korea- often referred to as the ‘Coffee Republic’ for its coffee consumption and intensely competitive, trend-driven market has become the proving ground for Compose Coffee’s remarkable rise. Compose Coffee’s gross store network has surpassed 3,000 locations, while net openings place the brand firmly on the cusp of reaching the same milestone on a net basis. The addition of 1,000 stores in under 18 months since opening its 2,000th location highlights the brand’s scalability, operational efficiency, and strong consumer resonance.
Amplifying its brand strength, the Compose Coffee app has reached 17.59 million cumulative users – approximately one in three Koreans and 60% of the country’s economically active population. Following the brand’s collaboration with BTS V, new subscribers surged by 8.3 million, reflecting top tier cultural influence and engagement.
Under its new CEO, Hongsuk Kim, Compose Coffee delivered the most successful marketing and product campaign in its history, a clear indication of the brand’s accelerating reach and execution strength. The “Buyeo Chestnut” menu surpassed 400,000 cups sold in its first week, supported by a digital campaign that generated 15 million views.
Highlands Coffee has established itself as Vietnam’s #1 coffee brand by market share, supported by vertically integrated sourcing and roasting capabilities, a powerful national brand, and a diversified beverage and food portfolio. The brand serves more than 100 million customers annually, supported by over 10,000 employees, demonstrating its scale and central role in daily Vietnamese life.
With a store network approaching 1,000 locations and a previous record of high traffic-driven SSSG, with double-digit same-store sales and transaction growth contributing to strong operating leverage, Highlands Coffee has doubled its footprint over the past three years, making it one of Southeast Asia’s largest and fastest-growing coffee platforms.
Chinese cuisine segment: strengthened by Yonghe King and Tim Ho Wan expansion
In December, Yonghe King, one of the Jollibee Group’s wholly owned Chinese cuisine brands in China, reached a milestone with the opening of 35 new franchised store openings, all deployed under its new, efficiency‑optimized store model.
This rapid expansion reinforces Yonghe King’s strategic role in driving the Jollibee Group’s footprint in China – a region where the Group has highlighted stabilizing operations and a path back to financial viability and sustainable growth.
The Tim Ho Wan concept continues to emerge as a strategic growth engine for the Jollibee Group, highly complementary to the Group’s portfolio and well-positioned for long-term global expansion. Since the acquisition, execution initiatives – including product, quality, and service enhancements – have translated into strong customer reception and top-tier ratings on established consumer review platforms.
In Hong Kong, Tim Ho Wan delivered a rapid turnaround under JFC’s leadership, with 100% of stores now profitable within six months post-acquisition, including the first Tim Ho Wan location opened following the acquisition. In the US, early customer response to newly opened stores has been encouraging, supporting management’s conviction in the scalability and long-term growth potential of the Tim Ho Wan brand across international markets and the effectiveness of JFC’s execution playbook.
The opening of Tim Ho Wan Irvine, the brand’s first company-operated US location under JFC management, marks a pivotal milestone for the Group, having been achieved within one year of assuming full ownership – demonstrating disciplined, high-speed execution. Early indicators point to encouraging customer uptake, reinforcing management’s conviction in the brand’s scalability in Western markets, as noted in recent investor discussions.
Moreover, the Irvine store establishes a repeatable operational template for broader US and international expansion, positioning Tim Ho Wan to leverage the Jollibee Group’s global supply chain, strong franchising discipline, and growing leadership in Chinese cuisine internationally – supporting the Group’s aspiration to scale Tim Ho Wan to 20 North America stores by 2028 and to be one of the most valuable Chinese restaurant brands in the world.
Across both segments, these developments reinforce the Group’s disciplined execution, asset-light growth strategy, and strengthening international platform. The Chinese cuisine segment has demonstrated robust business models that strengthen economic resilience and optimize capital efficiency, resulting in:
- Accelerated payback periods are trending approximately two years, consistent with group disclosures that Hong Kong and China stores under JFC stewardship are now delivering improved profitability.
- Highly portable, franchise-ready store formats paired with more efficient builds allow the brand to scale rapidly and consistently, supporting faster rollout across relevant trade areas.
Improved throughput and simplified operations, tailored to evolving consumer behavior in value‑driven dining.
