From a Simple Ice Cream Parlor to an International Craving: Behind Jollibee’s Tony Caktiong

If you’re a tourist and you happen to visit the Philippines, your trip will not be 100% if you don’t grab the chance to taste the country’s all time favorite, Jollibee.

Almost all Filipinos know what Jollibee is–a part of everyone’s childhood and a place that brings the happiness of a family together.

Jollibee is the leading and largest fast-food restaurant chain in the Philippines with over 1,150 stores nationwide. Jollibee also has international stores in the United States, Italy, Canada, Countries in the Middle East and Southeast Asia, and their newest branch in Liverpool in the United Kingdom, making it around 1,200 stores worldwide. The location of the latter branch is the hometown of the world famous rock band, The Beatles.

But how did Jollibee start? Born in January 5, 1953, Tony Tan Caktiong, the third child out of seven siblings, came from a poor family in China and later immigrated to the Philippines to find better opportunities in life. Caktiong was among those people who had the “rags to riches” life story.

During their stay in the Philippines, his family worked hard and smart until they had the means to put up a small restaurant business in Davao. The money they got out from the restaurant was used to support Tony’s education. Tony studied Civil Engineering at the University of Santo Tomas.

At a very young age, Tony seemed to be very business minded, he invested P350,000 to open an ice cream parlor in Cubao and later in Quiapo. With luck and persistence both in his reach, Tony’s ice cream business became booming that they had to start hiring more people to help them run it.

After quite some time in the ice cream business, they started to expand, they added more food to their menu and eventually they rebranded into “Jollibee” in 1978. Western food was there, fries, burgers, spaghetti, and the world famous Chickenjoy.

Ever since, Jollibee always promoted happiness as their tagline says “Bida ang Saya.” Even tough from the looks of it, the target market of Jollibee are the younger ones specifically kids, everyone wants a piece of Jollibee’s tasty Chickenjoy.

Meanwhile, in 1981, McDonald’s, one of the best western food chains worldwide, entered the Philippine market. According to Tony though, people always choose Jollibee because he believes that the “lasang pinoy” is what they are looking for. He elaborated that most Filipinos like their spaghetti sweeter than the usual.

After so many years of success, indeed, Jollibee is part of every Filipino family, from birthdays to fiesta celebrations, christening and even regular church days during Sundays, Jollibee was always there.

With Jollibee alone doing very good, Tony later established other food chains, which are also popular in the Philippines like Greenwich, Red Ribbon, Chowking and Delifrance. The famous “The Coffee Bean & Tea Leaf” cafe shop is now also owned by Jollibee.

Tony is now part of the 2020 richest men in the Philippines ranking no. 9, with a $1.9 billion net worth. (MLC)