The national food of the Philippines is represented by Jollibee.
When traveling in the Philippines, one is greeted here and there by signs with smiling bees. It is no surprise that there are approximately 1,300 Jollibee outlets nationwide.
For Filipino children, eating at a Jollibee is a glorious event. I wrote in my blog that when my daughter received an honor award at school, her request was to eat at Jollibee.
In addition to the Philippines, the company has embarked on an aggressive international expansion, opening more than 270 overseas branches in the United States, Canada, Hong Kong, Macau, Brunei, Vietnam, Singapore, Malaysia, Saudi Arabia, United Arab Emirates, Qatar, Oman, Kuwait, Bahrain, Italy, Spain and the United Kingdom. The company has more than 270 stores in the United Kingdom.
On August 18, Jollibee opened a flagship store in Times Square in New York City, the original home of fast food. This is the 65th Jollibee store in the United States.
Just prior to this news, the American food website "Eater" reported that the best bone-in fried chicken was Jollibee. It is a great accomplishment after 10 years in the U.S., and I am delighted that it is being well received by the American people. That said, I myself have bought Jollibee's as a souvenir, but have no memory of eating it myself.
Unfortunately, Jollibee has not opened in Japan. I don't know why, but since there are 280,000 Filipinos in Japan, I think it would thrive if it were to open.
Jollibee's mission states that it aims to be one of the top five restaurants in the world, so perhaps in the not-too-distant future, there will be "Smile Bee" signs all over Japan.
