Establishing an import business in RP

[Dave H]

Better listen to Ray on this one! I have never seen a US Jollibee. In the Philippines they seem to be goldmines. I guess there are too many other choices in the US. I wonder how a Goldilocks Bakery would do?

A note on Jollibee franchises in the US.

There are 3 Jollibees in San Diego and I regularly pass by or occasionally go in to 2 of them. From my personal observations, at least 99% of their customers are Filipino. Apparently, Americans just don’t have a taste for overpriced, sugar-laden, unhealthy junk food.

The employees are mostly all younger people of Filipino ancestry and most all speak at least passable Tagalog/Pilipino.

Jollibee here is never crowded, even after church on Sunday. Most of the time, you’d be extremely lucky to see a dozen customers in there at any given time. There are no lines at the counter.

IMO, you should figure that only Filipinos will visit a Jollibee here in the USA.

Same goes for Chow King... 99% Filipino customers. Red Ribbon isn’t much different.

If you want to eat free Peach Mango pies and get fat, start a Jollibee franchise. If you want to make money, start a Subway franchise.

The Filipino-oriented businesses here that seem to be making steady money include the large Filipino/Asian supermarkets and Filipino bakeries. It seems that almost every Filipino here eats pandesal on a regular basis, but only a few occasionally visit a Jollibee.

Ray

[Dave H]

If I wanted a franchise busiiness in the Philippines, my first choice would be Jollibeees, but it seems that there, as well as in  a lot of very different nations, Subways tend to do pretty good. In the RP, Pizza Hut seems to do well, but the pizza business can be extra risky anywhere.

It is weird how Filipino stores in the USA never seem to last. Seems to me that Filipinos will shop at a number of different Asian stores, getting what's best at any given one. We don't shop Asian stores for seafood very much.

Hey Rob,

Our local Shakey's Pizza in the Philippines shut down a few years ago. Our 2 Greenwich locations seem to be busy, as are the 2 Jollibees (even in the middle of the night). Pizza Hut does OK, but I can always find a seat there when Jollibee and Greenwich are packed. Mostly foreigners and their girlfriends and "social" Filipinos seem to go to Pizza Hut. My wife would love to see us get a Domino's Pizza! All of this talk about pizza, is getting me hungry! We still have some leftover from that monster pizza we tried to eat last night!

Dave

It was even bigger than the big one.