Fast-food giant Jollibee Foods Corp. on Saturday opened its first store in Guam as part of the group’s global expansion strategy.
JFC in a statement said the store in Guam was its 38th store across American states and territories.
The standalone Jollibee store seats 205 and is in front of Micronesia Mall in Dededo, the most populous village in Guam.
“This was an exciting day for both Jollibee and our many fans in Guam who have awaited the opening of our store here,” said Dennis Flores, JFC international business president for Europe, Middle East, Asia and Australia.
“It was so fun to see such a diverse, eclectic group of people who call Guam home queueing up to enjoy our offerings and to experience the joy of eating delicious food together,” Flores added.
Over 1,000 customers lined up with some queuing for 12 hours to celebrate the first day of Jollibee’s Guam store.
The fast-food giant has been accelerating its global expansion plans as it aims to be among the top five restaurant companies in the world in terms of market capitalization.
JFC said it was focusing on the two largest economies in the world—China and United States—and other parts of the world, while sustaining business growth in the Philippines.
JFC recently announced its accelerated North American expansion plan, which includes 150 locations in the US and 100 in Canada over the next five years.
JFC last year opened Jollibee stores in four new markets, namely Italy, Macau, United Kingdom and Malaysia.
To sustain the company’s aggressive expansion plans, the fast-food giant earlier reported that it would spend P17.2 billion in capital expenditures for 2019, mainly for new stores, renovation of existing outlets and investments in manufacturing plants.
The 2019 programmed capital expenditure is almost double the actual spending P9.6 billion in 2018.
JFC reported a net income of P8.32 billion in 2018, up 17.1 percent from P7.1 billion in 2017.