Restaurant operator Jollibee Foods Corp. said Thursday a joint venture company closed down its 12 Hotpot brand in China to focus on larger and fast-growing businesses.
Jollibee said in a disclosure to the stock exchange 48-percent-owned subsidiary 12 Hotpot (Shanghai) Food and Beverage Management Co. Ltd. had discontinued the operations of the 12 Hotpot brand effective Oct. 31.
It said 12 Hotpot, which was formed in 2012 by Jollibee and Taiwan’s Wowprime Ltd., operated 16 outlets in Shanghai before its operations was discontinued.
Jollibee said with the discontinuation of the 12 Hotpot business, the joint venture partnership would be dissolved and liquidated.
“JFC will focus on building its larger and fast-growing business in China and other parts of the world,” the fast-food giant said.
The 12 Hotpot business was not consolidated in Jollibee’s financial statements and store count as the Filipino company owned a minority in the joint venture.
Jollibee’s other businesses in China include Yonghe King with 305 stores, Hong Zhuang Yuan with 44 stores and Dunkin’ Donuts with 18 stores for a total of 367 stores.
It is also operating Happy Bee Foods Processing Co. to supply the products to its restaurants.
Jollibee has been divesting from smaller businesses. It divested from China restaurant chain San Pin Wang which had 72 stores and in Chow Fun Holdings Llc., the owner of a restaurant concept known as Jinja Bar and Bistro in United States which operates five outlets.
Jollbee’s China sales grew 17.2 percent in the second quarter, compared to the same period in 2016 while profit grew significantly from a year ago.
Its foreign business sales in the same period increased 24.3 percent, led by Southeast Asia (ex-Philippines) with growth of 42 percent, North America with 32.5 percent and the Middle East with 32 percent.
“All these regions are profitable and had significantly improved their profitability versus prior years. JFC will continue to drive strong profitable growth of these businesses, along with the Philippines in the years ahead,” Jollibee said.
Jollibee operates the largest food service network in the Philippines. It operates 2,756 restaurant outlets in the country and 888 stores overseas.