Jollibee Foods, a significant Asian fast food operator, will spend $350 million to buy coffee beans and tea leaves (CBTL).
“The acquisition of Coffee Bean & Tea Leaf will be Jollibee’s largest and most international venture to date, spanning 27 countries,” Jollibee CEO Tony Tan Caktiong said in a press release, adding that the acquisition will expand its global system by 14 percent. wide sales and 26% in the complete store network.
Why Jollibee desires to buy Pret A Manger – for “$1 billion”
Why Jollibee desires to buy Pret A Manger – for “$1 billion”
Los Angeles-based CBTL has 1,189 locations within the U.S., Southeast Asia and the Middle East, and is rapidly expanding in Asia. Almost three quarters of its outlets are franchises.
The wealthy Sassoon family from Singapore are shareholders in CBTL, which brought the brand to Asia and is widely credited with fueling the Western-style coffee trend within the region.
The family decided to have coffee after Victor Sassoon, a former tour promoter, met pop singer Paula Abdul in Los Angeles while visiting his brother Sunny.
When Sassoon mentioned that he was pondering of bringing Coffee Bean to Singapore, Abdul told him: “It’s the greatest product in the world. You have to get this company,” in response to the story in New York Times in 2000.
Jollibee is expanding in Hong Kong – thanks partly to its legion of fans and supporters
Jollibee is expanding in Hong Kong – thanks partly to its legion of fans and supporters
The Jollibee food and beverage empire was born in 1975 and at the moment it only served ice cream. It was the brainchild of Caktiong – commonly called Sir Tony by his staff as an indication of respect – the third child of seven children in an impoverished family who had moved to the Philippines from Fujian Province in China. When Tan was a baby, his father opened a small Buddhist restaurant in Davao within the southern Philippines.
The name Jollibee was introduced in 1978, first as Jolibe; it was modified to its current spelling to make it easier to associate with the words “cheerful” and “bee” – and because of the non-standard spelling, it could easily be trademarked.
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This article appeared within the print edition of the South China Morning Post as: Jollibee will spend $350 million to purchase coffee beans
