Jollibee is betting on Times Square. The popular Filipino fast-food chain has inked a lease to open a 7,127-square-foot flagship at 1500 Broadway, between West 43rd and West 44th streets. The space includes 3,127 square feet of ground floor retail space as well as 4,000 square feet on the lower level.
Jollibee has more than 1,300 locations worldwide, but just two other New York City locations, at 6229 Roosevelt Avenue in Woodside and 609 Eighth Avenue in Midtown. When the original Manhattan location opened in 2018, fans of the brand waited in hours-long lines to sample its popular Chickenjoy — a dish of fried chicken with rice and gravy.
The Jolibee story is truly one for a movie script. In 1975, Tony Tan Caktiong and his family opened an ice cream parlor in Cubao, Phillipines. The outlet later began offering hot meals and sandwiches upon request from customers. When the food items became more popular than ice cream, the family decided to convert the ice cream parlor into a fast-food restaurant and became the first Jollibee outlet in 1978.
By the end of the first year of operation, there were seven branches in Metro Manila. The first franchised outlet of Jollibee opened in Manila in 1979. As Jollibee experienced rapid growth, it was able to withstand the entry of McDonald’s in the Philippines in 1981 by focusing on the specific tastes of the Filipino market, which differed from the American fast food company.
Jollibee will bring several American-influenced items, as well as casual Filipino fare to its new Midtown flagship. Among the establishment’s best sellers are the Yumburger, the house hamburger first introduced during their early days of operation; the Chickenjoy, a fried chicken meal introduced in the 1980s; and Jolly Spaghetti, their sweet-style interpretation of spaghetti. which is being advertised as “the meatiest, cheesiest spaghetti”. Jollibee’s first outlet in North America opened in the United States in California in June of 1998.
CBRE’s New York team of Amira Yunis, Anthony Stanford, Henry Rossignol and Elliot Ferris facilitated the negotiations for the Times Square transaction, representing both the tenant and landlord Tamares Real Estate. The building’s other retail tenants include Starbucks and Citizen Watch. Fast-food restaurants have done well in the pandemic. They paid 92 percent of their rent in the month of January, according to a report by Datex Property Solutions.
To learn more about Jollibee, visit their US website.
