From Ice Cream to Hot Meals

Like many other fast food dreams, Jollibee began as a small family’s gamble to make a better life for themselves. It was in 1975 that Jollibee’s CEO, Tony Tan Caktiong, acquired a franchise for Magnolia ice cream.

Magnolia was another giant in the Philippine industrial landscape, and is owned by San Miguel Food and Beverage, Inc., which also happened to be the producer of the popular San Miguel Beer line of pale pilsens and light beers. Tony, then only 22 years old, opened their first ice cream parlor in Cubao. This place would also become the first Jollibee outlet ever in the history of the country. There were no large fast food franchises yet in 1975. McDonald’s and KFC don’t even exist yet on PH shores.

While the Magnolia ice cream parlor would be a big hit, management consultant Manuel Lumba advised Tony that they should begin offering hot meals and ice cream alongside their Magnolia ice cream. The concept became a runaway hit. Just three years after the big change in Tony’s ice cream parlor, they found it necessary to just cancel the Magnolia franchise and proceed head on with converting the business into a fast food joint. Again, Jollibee succeeded mainly because there were no full-service restaurants serving the PH masses then. Jollibee’s case was a classic example of being in the right place, and at the right time.