Filipino fast food giant says Highlands Coffee is its fastest growing brand and announces intention to grow the coffee chain in its native Vietnamese market
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A Highlands Coffee store in Hanoi, Vietnam | Photo credit: Phan Minh Tuấn
Jollibee Foods Corp (JFC) has said it will open 100 Highlands Coffee outlets in 2021, mostly in the coffee chain’s native Vietnamese market.
“Highlands Coffee is the fastest growing business in the Jollibee Group, with profitable new and existing stores. Pre-pandemic, its new stores generated very high returns on invested capital,” the company told reporters.
According to JFC’s Chief Finance Officer Ysmael Baysa, the company also intends to list Highlands Coffee in Vietnam by the end of the year.
Founded in Hanoi, Vietnam in 1999, Highlands Coffee is Vietnam’s third-largest coffee chain, exceeding 341 outlets.
World Coffee Portal data shows Vietnam is East Asia’s fifth largest branded coffee shop market, exceeding 3,839 stores in 2020. Despite trading pressures brought by the global pandemic, Vietnam’s branded coffee shop market added 201 net new stores over the last 12 months, enjoying robust 5.5% outlet growth in 2020.
Founded in 1978, Jollibee Foods Corp is the largest fast food operator in the Philippines, operating more than 3,190 stores across the Western Pacific nation and a further 1,400+ stores across international markets including Vietnam, Saudi Arabia, Qatar, Hong Kong and Kuwait.
In July 2019, Jollibee Foods Corp purchased US-based coffee chain The Coffee Bean & Tea Leaf’s circa-1,200-store portfolio in a deal valued at $350m.