By 2011, gourmet sandwich and pasta company Delifrance will no longer be part of the Jollibee family. This is according to a disclosure by Jollibee Foods Corporation (JFC) sent to the Philippine Stock Exchange (PSE) on September 8.
The company disclosed that its wholly-owned subsidiary, Fresh N’ Famous Foods Inc. (FNF), has entered into an agreement to sell assets of its Delifrance business unit to CafeFrance Corp. for P100 million cash. In connection with the sale, FNF will terminate its franchise agreement with Delifrance Asia Limited on December 31, 2010.
Delifrance started operations in the Philippines in 1995, first as a joint venture with Delifrance Asia Limited, then as a wholly-owned franchise of Jollibee since 2006.
The sale is said to be part of Jollibee Foods Corporation’s intention to concentrate resources on building its quick-service restaurant business. The company reports that the sale of assets and termination of franchise will have no material impact on JFC’s profit.
The new owner, CafeFrance Corp., plans to operate a coffee shop business in all existing Delifrance outlets under a new cafe concept and brand name.
CafeFrance Corp. is a wholly-owned subsidiary of Euro-Med Laboratories, an IV fluids company in the Philippines.
Delifrance currently has 23 store locations in the Philippines, 3 of which are managed by franchisees.
As of July 31, 2010, JFC has 1,582 store branches in the Philippines:
- 702 Jollibee branches
- 406 Chowking branches
- 221 Greenwich branches
- 215 Red Ribbon branches
- 23 Delifrance branches
- 15 Manong Pepe’s branches
Outside the country, Jollibee operates 362 stores:
- 178 Yonghe King stores in the People’s Republic of China
- 61 Jollibee outlets (mostly in the US with 25, Vietnam with 18, and Brunei with 11)
- 37 Red Ribbon branches all in the US
- 36 Chowking outlets (mostly in the US with 19 and Dubai with 15)
- 50 Hong Zhuan Yuan stores in China
