by Penny Angeles-Tan | Jul 5, 2023 | Business
Record-Breaking Store Openings. The Jollibee Group opened 23 stores of Burger King in 2022, the highest number of store openings in a single year for Burger King in the Philippines.
The Jollibee Group is focused on strengthening the performance of its foreign franchised brands in the Philippines as part of its growth plans.
“We aim to become the leading market developer of foreign restaurant brands in the country. By leveraging our brand portfolio to provide diverse offerings for various market segments at different price points, and strategically expanding our store network, Burger King, Yoshinoya, and Panda Express are expected to continuously contribute to the sustainable growth of our domestic business,” said Joseph Tanbuntiong, Jollibee Group Country Head for Philippine Business.
Store Openings
As part of the company’s expansion efforts in 2022, Burger King opened 23 stores, which is the highest number of store openings in a year. It also opened its 125th milestone store in 2022 and five Bike ‘n Dine stores located in Shaw Wack-Wack San Juan; Visayas Ave. Quezon City; Vermosa in Imus, Cavite; Alabang-West in Muntinlupa; and Carmona Cavite.
In 2022, the Jollibee Group also relaunched Japan’s world-famous Beef Bowl Chain, Yoshinoya. This is its first-ever Japanese food chain, making it a strong addition to the foreign franchised brands currently operated by the company. Yoshinoya serves a beefed-up menu in a newly redesigned contemporary and casual Japanese space headlined by their world-famous gyudon or beef bowl.
Successful Relaunch. The Jollibee Group successfully relaunched Yoshinoya in the Philippines with a refreshed store design and menu offering.
Last year, Yoshinoya opened four stores and renovated three existing stores. The Jollibee Group formed a 50-50 joint venture with YIPI—the Philippine subsidiary of Asia Yoshinoya International Sdn. Bhd. and Yoshinoya Holdings Co. Ltd. in June 2021. The said partnership established Yoshinoya Jollibee Foods, Inc., which operates the Yoshinoya stores in the country and plans to expand Yoshinoya’s store network to 50 stores in the long term.
Meanwhile, Panda Express opened ten stores last year, five of which were the first in its host cities—Robinsons Place Ermita in Manila, SM Southmall in Las Piñas, Betterliving in Parañaque, Shell SLT in Muntinlupa, and Greenhills in San Juan. In February 2023, Panda Express opened its first drive-thru restaurant in Asia with the launch of its Sumulong Highway branch. This new location in Marikina City also marks Panda Restaurant Group’s 100th international restaurant. Panda Restaurant Group, Inc. (PRG) and the Jollibee Group formed JBPX Foods, Inc., a joint venture in 2019 to bring the world’s largest American Chinese dining concept to the Philippines.
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Milestone Opening. The first drive-thru store of Panda Express in Asia was opened by the Jollibee Group in Marikina City. This also marks the brand’s 100th international branch.
Exciting Product Offerings
The Jollibee Group’s thrust with its foreign franchised brands is to bring an authentic experience to Filipinos. Apart from this, the Jollibee Group also provides menu offerings that are either unique to the Philippine market or among the best performing for these franchised brands in the region and the world.
On top of its iconic entree, the Original Orange Chicken®, Panda Express introduced Kung Pao Fish last year for the season of Lent. Its Beef Broccoli and Honey Walnut Shrimp are also among the best-selling dishes in the region. Meanwhile, Yoshinoya—with its signature beef bowl—also offered dishes that Filipino foodies can enjoy such as Tempura, Karaage, and desserts like Mochi Matcha Ice Cream and Coffee Jelly.
Burger King Philippines was also acknowledged as having one of the best-in-class launches in Asia for its new product Chicken King. Other exciting new products that guests enjoyed for a limited time last year were Cheese Bites, Plant-Based X-tra Long Chicken, Spicy Chicken King, Spicy Chicken Nuggets, and Truffle Whopper.
For this year, the Jollibee Group is set to open more stores for Burger King, Yoshinoya, and Panda Express. These new store openings form part of the company’s goal to become one of the top five restaurant companies in the world.
“Our thrust is to bring the original experience of these popular brands to the Filipino people. I am confident that with the success of our foreign franchised brands, and with the continued support of their fans, Jollibee Group will succeed in achieving its long-term growth plans,” Tanbuntiong added.
by Penny Angeles-Tan | Jun 30, 2023 | Book Reviews
Lately, Alpha’s Hidden Obsession by Misha K keeps getting recommended to me when I open iReader so I thought, “Sure, let’s give it a try”. From the title, I knew it had to do with shifters, werewolves specifically, and that there was an obsessed alpha in it.
The main character in this story is Poppy who has been tortured for years by her Alpha grandfather because she was wolfless. She scented her mate and when she followed the scent it led her to Nash, an Alpha heir for another pack. Unfortunately, he was in the middle of a sexual encounter with Cynthia at the time and he decides to reject her in favor of Cynthia, his chosen mate.
Poppy is then sent to Umbra Academy where she fears she will be killed as it has the reputation of being a tough/savage school where few survive. There she meets Damon, the biggest baddest Alpha in the school.
Damon is betrothed to Monica and yet for some inexplicable reason, he finds himself drawn to Poppy. It takes him a while but he realizes that she is his mate and he does everything he can to resist.
Interestingly, while Poppy felt the mate bond with Nash, she could not even sense it with Damon. Why? She is, however, extremely attracted to him but fighting it herself. As far as she was concerned, Damon was bad news.
Story development and character development are good. It’s not a sex romp or bogged down with so many minutiae. However, the book does need editing as there are too many times when the wrong word (homonym) is used or an incorrect turn of phrase/idiomatic expression was written in.
The most glaring example is when the author says that Poppy is “in heats” or “her heats”. I thought it was a typo at first but since she is consistent in using that term it tells me that the author thinks that “in heats” is the correct term.
It isn’t. A she-wolf goes into HEAT (singular) or she is IN HEAT.
That being said, I am 37% into the story and it is going well. I am loving how possessive Damon is being and how he actually came out and told her how he feels for her. Now that Nash is back in the picture, I am interested to find out how it will play out. It’s good enough that I am buying coins just so I can read the whole book.
I think Alpha’s Hidden Obsession by Misha K is good enough to publish … just get a copy editor first to clean it up. You can find this jewel of a story on the iReader app.
by Penny Angeles-Tan | Jun 28, 2023 | Business
The Jollibee Group’s Global General Counsel & Ethics Head and Compliance Officer Atty. Valerie Feria Amante was named the In-House Lawyer of the Year by the 19th Annual Asian Legal Business (ALB) Southeast (SE) Asia Law Awards 2023. Amante is the only Filipino individual awardee this year.
The ALB SE Asia Law Awards 2023, judged by an independent panel of senior and expert legal industry leaders from various sectors across the region, recognizes the exceptional performance of private practitioners and in-house counsel in SE Asia.
“I am honored to have been recognized as In-House Lawyer of the Year for Southeast Asia. I have always believed that Filipinos can stand proud alongside the best in the world, and I am happy to be one of many examples showing this to be true,” said Amante.
As the Global General Counsel & Ethics Head and Compliance Officer of the Jollibee Group, Amante leads a team of 19 lawyers and 10 paralegals spanning six countries: the Philippines, China, Vietnam, the USA, Singapore, and Ireland.
“This award represents the work of the great team of lawyers and paralegals across our offices in six countries that comprise the Legal organization in the Jollibee Group, as well as the collaboration of colleagues from different functions and businesses,” she expounded.
Rewarding in-house legal career
Amante has been with the Jollibee Group for over 16 years and has led the development of the legal, ethics, and compliance functions as integral components in Jollibee Group’s growth and expansion.
“Building an effective multinational legal organization to ensure our businesses everywhere have access to quality support; setting standards, policies, and processes to facilitate legal consistency and alignment globally, balanced with agility and flexibility locally; creating and disseminating tools to empower people and manage legal risks at scale; and providing our team’s perspective in conversations at all levels to enable legally-informed business decisions — all contribute to making legal, ethics and compliance integral to the Jollibee Group’s way of doing business,” Amante added.
Amante graduated as a Salutatorian of the University of the Philippines College of Law in 2000 and placed 7th in the Philippine Bar Examinations of the same year. After starting her career in a large law firm and another publicly listed company, she joined JFC in 2007. 2016 she was awarded the ALB Philippine In-House Lawyer of the Year. This time, she won the In-House Lawyer of the Year award for SE Asia.
“My inclusion is a direct result of the meaningful, high-impact, and interesting work that I have had the opportunity to do in the Jollibee Group, and the support that JFC has given me to continuously grow and elevate the function,” Amante said.
Inclusive legal organization
“We are committed to equal opportunities and hiring based on merit. Over 70% of the legal organization in the Jollibee Group are women, and two lawyers, including myself, are Persons with Disability (PWD),” Amante said.
Asked for her piece of advice to young lawyers, Amante said: “Anchor yourself on integrity and excellence. Know your values and priorities, and act accordingly. Treat everyone – including yourself – with respect. Also, having a sense of humor helps!”
by Penny Angeles-Tan | Jun 26, 2023 | Book Reviews
I read so many books on at least four reading apps, not counting Amazon Kindle and ARCs, that I didn’t think I would add another app to my reading roster. But then, this story kept appearing in my feed and on targeted ads, So one day I decided to (finally!) succumb and read the first chapter.
Reading that first chapter was a big mistake because King of the Underworld by RJ Kane is so well written that I am addicted and can’t stop reading! Here’s a clear sign that I think it is good … there are 514 chapter and I am reading it. That is 514 chapters of ONE BOOK, not a series of stories pulled together into one book.
Anyone who knows me or has read my previous reviews knows I avoid stories this long like the plague. This is usually because, from my experience, the stories that are that long (or longer) as usually written by juvenile authors who have terrible grammar which often means that English is not their first language. Yes, I know it is a generalization, but I have found it to be true in most cases.
So you can just imagine my surprise when I start King of the Underworld by RJ Kane to find not only minimal errors but an actual engaging story. I am only 60 chapters in but every chapter has been a joy to read. Persephone, the female main character, is someone I would love to befriend. Her personality is so sunny that I couldn’t help but smile. How she interacted with Adrik, the male main character, and his 5 personal bodyguards was amazing!
No, it is not a reverse harem … at least it doesn’t seem like it is 60 chapters in. Her relationship with the bodyguards is more like that of siblings. In contrast, with Adrik, from the get-go, we know it is a love match. So far it seems to be going well. My main concern as I read is, will the author be able to sustain this level of writing for 514 chapters? I’m willing to read on to find out.
So far there is no supernatural element yet but we will wait and see. King of the Underworld by RJ Kane can be found on the Anystories app. I think you’ll enjoy it, too. 🙂
by Penny Angeles-Tan | Jun 24, 2023 | Book Reviews
There is just something about well-executed body art that is so darned sexy, and the grumpy men of Brothers in Ink in Four Tattoos by Stephanie Brother are prime examples.
The female lead character is Rose, a beautiful woman in her 20s who works in Island Java (a coffee shop owned by her brother) by day and at the front desk of Club Red (a male revue club) at night. She meets her men for the first time when she delivers coffee to their shop.
Mace, Zipper, Christian, and Hutch are the owners and tattoo artists behind Brothers in Ink. They bonded while in the army and have been as close as brothers since.
From the moment Rose meets the four she found herself inexplicably drawn to them and at the same time confused at how she can be attracted to all of them at the same time. Despite Christian’s and Zipper’s initial grumpiness, it didn’t detract from their appeal. She was excited for their next coffee delivery order so that she could see them again.
Christian, Hutch, Mace, and Zipper usually have different preferences when it comes to the women they date or sleep with. However, in this instance they found themselves unanimous in their desire for Rose. This was not the first time they have found themselves all attracted to the same woman. They had a polyamorous relationship in the past that did not end well. Nevertheless, this did not deter them from deciding to pursue Rose together. It’s a good thing they did or we wouldn’t have this story, lol!
I was bothered by the fact that she was keeping them as her “dirty little secret”. I understand her hesitation in saying anything to her brother Patrick and his fiancé, Nancy. I had hoped, though, she would have told someone in Club Red, like Brittany. She would definitely understand Rose’s situation, as would the the owners of Club Red and some of the dancers and Duke.
When it comes to their intimate moments, despite there being four of them, the men mostly tend to give each other one-on-one time despite all being in the same room. So, smut level is dialed down but still leaves room for my imagination to run wild. I thought that was actually sweet because it meant that Rose had the opportunity to really connect with each man and it didn’t read like a gang bang.
If you like age gap romances, tattoo artists, and grumpy men (in general) then you will enjoy. Four Tattoos by Stephanie Brother. You can get a copy of this story in Kindle and paperback format on Amazon, free with Kindle Unlimited. 🙂
Eager to know what else happens to Rose, Christian, Hutch, Mace, and Zipper? Check out the bonus chapter HERE.
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The main character in this story is Poppy who has been tortured for years by her Alpha grandfather because she was wolfless. She scented her mate and when she followed the scent it led her to Nash, an Alpha heir for another pack. Unfortunately, he was in the middle of a sexual encounter with Cynthia at the time and he decides to reject her in favor of Cynthia, his chosen mate.
Reading that first chapter was a big mistake because King of the Underworld by RJ Kane is so well written that I am addicted and can’t stop reading! Here’s a clear sign that I think it is good … there are 514 chapter and I am reading it. That is 514 chapters of ONE BOOK, not a series of stories pulled together into one book.
The female lead character is Rose, a beautiful woman in her 20s who works in Island Java (a coffee shop owned by her brother) by day and at the front desk of Club Red (a male revue club) at night. She meets her men for the first time when she delivers coffee to their shop.
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