This story is part of Forbes’ coverage of Philippines’ Richest 2023. See the full list here.
Billionaire Tony Tan Caktiong, founder of the Philippines’ largest fast food chain Jollibee Foods, has rediscovered his appetite for growth. As a result, his fortune, which fell three years ago to $1.9 billion when the pandemic shuttered dine-in services, is now up to $3.2 billion, enough to propel him to No. 5.
After opening a record 542 new stores in 2022, Jollibee is investing up to 19 billion pesos ($342 million) to open as many as 600 stores this year, to bring its global footprint to over 7,000 locations. The Manila-based company is stepping up the buildout on strong earnings growth—net profit climbed 26% year-on-year to 7.6 billion pesos in 2022 on the back of a 40% jump in revenue as restaurants started buzzing once again.
It was a more modest start to 2023, with net profit for the first quarter slipping 3.2% to 2.2 billion pesos from the previous year in the absence of exceptional gains. But Ernesto Tanmantiong, CEO of Jollibee was upbeat in his quarterly briefing in May: “We remain focused on navigating through these uncertainties and are confident in our ability to deliver another year of strong growth.”
In a May research report, Brenda Gannaban, an analyst at RCBC Securities in Manila, noted that, “We expect Jollibee to sustain and grow its topline on better economic conditions and continued store expansion, and recoup its margins on tapering commodity and manufacturing costs.” The brokerage expects Jollibee’s net profit to rise roughly 8% to 8.2 billion pesos this year, and climb to a record 10.9 billion pesos in 2024.
After whetting the appetites of millions of Filipinos with its signature fried chicken dish Chickenjoy for over four decades, Jollibee embarked on an international acquisition binge to achieve its ambitious goal of becoming one of the world’s top five restaurant groups. In 2018, it spent $210 million to buy Denver-based Smashburger and acquired California-based Coffee Bean & Tea Leaf for $330 million the following year. Today, the company owns 16 brands, including Hong Kong’s dim sum brand Tim Ho Wan and Taiwan’s Milksha bubble tea chain.
Jollibee traces its roots to 1975 when Tan and his family opened an ice cream outlet in Quezon City, a Manila suburb. The store added sandwiches and other items to its menu, eventually evolving into the first Jollibee restaurant in 1978. While Jollibee is bigger than McDonald’s on its home turf (where it accounts for more than half of the fast food market), the U.S. rival has a much larger global footprint, with over 40,000 stores around the world.
Tan has been pivoting into new businesses in recent years. He co-owns property developer DoubleDragon Properties with Edgar Sia II (No. 39), who sold his grilled chicken restaurant chain to Jollibee seven years ago. In 2021, the duo established CentralHub Industrial Centers, which is building a portfolio of warehouses (including some Jollibee properties) that will eventually be folded into a real estate investment trust and listed on the Philippine bourse. In May, the partners invested in DragonFi Securities, which is developing an online trading platform to tap into booming demand from retail investors.