Jollibee is muscling in on McDonald’s and Starbucks’ territory — starting with a US listing
The Philippine food group has turned into a global contender with its fried chicken, coffee deals, and overseas store growth.
For years, America has exported its restaurant chains to Asia and the world. Now, those countries are returning the favor, with Chinese giants like Luckin Coffee and Mixue — which opened its first US store in Los Angeles last month — making small footholds in the birthplace of fast food.
One global brand that’s been here for a while, however, is Jollibee, which has grown into more than just a cult favorite for homesick Filipinos craving its sweet spaghetti and fried chicken — even outpacing Popeyes and KFC to be named USA Today’s best fast-food fried chicken for two years running. And now, its parent group is making a real bid to sell that growth story to Wall Street.
According to a filing on Tuesday with the Philippine Stock Exchange, Jollibee Foods Corp., the Philippine food giant behind its namesake fast-food chain as well as global brands like Smashburger and dim sum chain Tim Ho Wan, plans to spin off its international business and list it on a US exchange by late 2027. Shares jumped as much as 14.5% on the news, its biggest single-day gain since 2008.
The move follows a decade-long push that has transformed the group into a global operator: international locations have surged more than 10x since 2014, with roughly 7 in 10 of JFC’s total stores now located outside the Philippines, up from about 2 in 10.
Sales have followed the footprint, with international operations now accounting for ~40% of group revenue, compared with 9% in 2007.
One driver of that expansion has been a string of caffeinated acquisitions: the group bought The Coffee Bean & Tea Leaf in 2019 and South Korea’s Compose Coffee in 2024, which together lifted JFC’s coffee network to more than 5,000 stores worldwide, as it seeks to challenge Starbucks in the global market.
Meanwhile, the group’s flagship Jollibee fast-food chain — which remains its biggest revenue engine, generating roughly half of total sales — is growing faster abroad than at home. In 2024, same-store sales growth in North America (8.1%), EMEA (11.6%), and China (13.2%) all surpassed the Philippines (7.9%).
JFC has hardly been shy about its ambitions, repeatedly expressing its vision to become “one of the top five restaurant companies in the world.”
Still, the company has a long way to go to break into the global fast-food elite. JFC's market cap sits at $3.9 billion, a fraction of those rivals, while its 10,304 stores worldwide amount to roughly a quarter of the footprint of McDonald’s or Starbucks. And its expansion — while substantial, adding about eight stores per day in 2024 (mostly thanks to acquisitions) — looks glacial next to Mixue, which opened ~21 per day over the same time frame.
