Fastfood chain operator Jollibee Foods Corp. is setting foot in Europe, as it plans to open its first store in Italy.
Jollibee said in a disclosure to the stock exchange wholly-owned unit Golden Plate Pte. Ltd. formed a 75:25 joint venture with Blackbird Holdings Pte. Ltd. to own and operate the first Jollibee store in Italy.
Both parties committed to invest up to 1 million euros (P53.5 million) in the joint venture company that would be incorporated in Singapore.
Jollibee will have full management control over the joint venture company and the operations of its first store in Italy.
“JFC’s strategy is still to tap a territorial franchisee for Italy with the capability to develop and expand the brand in the market. The joint venture partnership will facilitate the opening of its first store and will create the desired market awareness for the Jollibee brand in the market,” the company said.
Formed in 2014, Blackbird, a Singaporean firm, currently holds various investments in Singapore and the Philippines in food and beverage, agriculture and biotechnology sectors.
The company earlier said it was looking at Milan as the potential site for the first Jollibee store in Italy.
Jollibee wanted to go to Europe given the growing population of overseas Filipinos and Filipino migrants in the European country. More than 200,000 Filipinos live in Italy.
Jollibee recently expanded in Canada and Oman and expressed plans to open stores in Japan, Australia and the United Kingdom.
Jollibee has been aggressively expanding overseas in line with its goal to generate 50 percent of its sales abroad. The group’s foreign business currently accounts for 30 percent of system-wide sales.
Jollibee operates 620 stores overseas including in China, Vietnam, Brunei, Saudi Arabia, Qatar, the United Arab Emirates, Kuwait, Singapore, Hong Kong, Oman, Bahrain and the United States.
It has 2,670 stores in the Philippines.