Imagine a guy who can operate nearly 3,300 food outlets in his country and over 3400 stores overseas. You must know the name, right? How could someone do this and stay humble after all the journey? If you are still unfamiliar, let us introduce to you the man behind the success. His name is Tony Tan Caktiong, he is a son of Chinese immigrants who moved to the Philippines. Tony’s huge success is remarkable for many in where he was born and in different parts of the world. Here’s what we compiled from different sources about Filipino entrepreneurs.
Tony Tan Caktiong’s Background
Jollibee’s founder Tony Tan Caktiong came from a humble family who migrated to the Philippines searching for a better life. Tony was born on the 5th of January 1953 in Davao del Sur. His involvement in restaurant business happened early when his father opened a restaurant. All family members were contributing in the restaurant and that helped Tony Caktiong to get a degree in chemical engineering in the capital city, Manila.
When he was 22 years old, he set a goal to gain his own foothold in this business. He had a franchising opportunity with Magnolia Dairy Ice Cream company and he directly opened two ice cream parlors. When he sought customer requests he also added hot meals to the menu and this action proved itself as it gets more popular than ice cream. In a few years, Tony Caktiong cancelled Magnolia franchise and converted his parlors into fast food outlets.
Foundation of Jollibee
Caktiong family needed a brand name and a new logo for their new business. They made their choices on behalf of the smiling red bee. The bee represented the hardwork and also “jolly” was meant for happiness and enjoyment. They have invested millions of Pesos to register the “bee” trademark in the Philippines and other countries.
How did Jollibee expanded to the world?
Jollibee Group now encompasses 18 brands in 30 countries, this numbers are making them a world leader in the Food& Beverage sector.
As we all experienced the pandemic, the pandemic could not stop the expansion of this mogul and Tony Tan Caktiong’s company has opened 542 stores in 2022. In 2021, the company continued to make substantial investments to increase its global footprint and they included several new brands to its portfolio, including Taiwanese beverage chain Milksha. In 2023, Filipino billionaire has made up to 19 billion Philippine pesos to open nearly 600 stores worldwide.
Tony Caktiong said these words about their expansion, “When we set our vision of being one of the top five restaurant companies in the world, we never intended to become big for the sake of becoming big. We set [ourselves on this path] imbued with a sense of purpose—including that it be something we, our people and our country can all be proud of.”
Some Unknown Facts about Tony Tan Caktiong
- He also acquired Greenwich Pizza Corporation under the name of Jollibee group.
- With his partner Edgar Sia II, Caktiong also has some investments in DoubleDragon Properties Corporation in the Philippines.
- Caktiong’s mother thought Tony was the most difficult to bring up among his brothers because he was the pickiest in terms of taste.
- Jollibee accepts working students, with flexible working hours.
Thank your for reading this article.
You also might like these entrepreneurs.
Extraordinary Entrepreneur: Elon Musk
Grant Cardone; Real Estate Master
Inspirational Entrepreneur: Gary Vaynerchuk
