Jollibee earns over $58 mln from fried chicken, coffee chains in Vietnam in Jan-Sept

The Philippines’ Jollibee Foods Corporation (JFC) earned an EBITDA (earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation, and amortization) of nearly PHP3.47 billion ($58.32 million) from its fried chicken chain Jollibee and Highlands Coffee chains in Vietnam in the first nine months of this year.

Specifically, JFC earned PHP1.56 billion ($26.23 million) from Jollibee Vietnam in the period, up 45% year-on-year. The figure included PHP298 million ($5.01 million) in the third quarter of this year, up 49%.

The fried chicken chain opened 14 more stores and closed three outlets in Vietnam during the nine-month period, raising its total local eateries to 224.

Meanwhile, JFC reported that Highlands Coffee, a Vietnamese-style coffee chain, posted an EBITDA of nearly PHP1.91 billion ($32.09 million) in January-September, up 9.5% year-on-year and making up nearly 29% of the Philippines corporation’s coffee-tea earnings.

The company also noted that Highlands Coffee expanded its store network to 928 outlets in Vietnam, including co-owned stores and franchised facilities. In the nine-month spell, the firm launched an additional 109 stores and shut down 31 outlets.

Founded in 1999 in Hanoi as a packaged coffee brand, Highlands entered the coffee business in 2002 with its first shop in Ho Chi Minh City and has since expanded aggressively. JFC acquired the chain in 2012 with a controlling 60% stake.

Despite the Philippine group’s ownership, founder and CEO David Thai said in an April interview that Highlands continues to function as a Vietnamese company, with JFC serving primarily as investor and strategic advisor. Daily operations and staffing remain under his direct oversight.

Vietnam’s food and beverage (F&B) industry generated VND406.1 trillion ($15.4 billion) in revenues in the first half of 2025, equivalent to 58.9% of 2024’s figure and up slightly from VND403.9 trillion ($15.3 billion) a year earlier, according to an October report by iPOS.vn.

As of June 30, Vietnam had 299,900 F&B outlets, down 7.1% from the end of 2024, the report said. Both Hanoi and Ho Chi Minh City saw double-digit declines of more than 11%, signaling a marked slowdown in the country’s two largest markets.