Jollibee: Fast-Food, the Filipino Way

Though the ice cream parlor business was doing well, Tony wanted to do something bigger in the foods business - in the form of a fast-food outlet chain. His vision was inspired by the global popularity of companies like McDonald's (which incidentally, was planning to enter the Philippines during that time), Wendy's and Burger King (these two already had a presence in the Philippines). Deciding against becoming a McDonald's franchise, Tony established his own chain of seven hamburger outlets in 1978 under the name Jollibee. In 1979, Tony and his brother went to the US to study the fast-food business. They spent a couple of weeks looking at the kind of equipment used, the retail outlets, the food served and various other things.

Therefore, he decided to differentiate his company by making it a 'symbol of Filipino pride.' Thus, while Jollibee hired US consultants for assistance on the franchising and retailing fronts, it took decisions regarding the products on its own. All the food products were prepared keeping in mind the tastes and flavors prevalent in the country. Since Filipinos liked eating out in groups and ordered different dishes, the menu was quite exhaustive (as compared to the limited menu offered by US fast-food outlets). This strategy worked well and from the very beginning, Jollibee became a huge hit with the customers. In line with the 'copying' theme, Jollibee launched its own mascot (a la Ronald the clown from McDonald's), a human-like bee,³ in 1980...