THE Jollibee Group opened a commissary in Danao City, Cebu, last Jan. 8, marking a major expansion of its manufacturing and logistics operations in the region. The multi-brand, state-of-the-art facility — the fourth in Cebu and the biggest in the Visayas-Mindanao region — is designed to support the company’s growing store network and rising consumer demand. “Accelerating our growth in Visayas and Mindanao is critical to our Philippine business and foundational to our global aspirations,” Jollibee Group Philippines CEO Joseph Tanbuntiong said. “The project reflects the company’s confidence in Cebu as a key manufacturing and logistics hub. Together, we are building a stronger, more inclusive and more sustainable future,” he added. The Danao commissary will supply key products and ingredients for Jollibee Group brands including Jollibee, Chowking, Mang Inasal, Greenwich, Red Ribbon and Burger King. It will serve distribution centers in major cities like Cebu, Iloilo, Bacolod, Zamboanga, Cagayan de Oro and Davao, as well as selected areas in Luzon. The commissary is expected to generate close to 500 jobs, with more than 60 percent of employees coming from Danao City. At full capacity, employment is projected to reach 800. In another development, analysts downplayed Jollibee Food Corp. stakeholder Honeyworth Corp.’s recent stake sales as part of routine portfolio management and not a reflection on the fast-food giant’s business prospects. They noted that the sale involved a relatively small portion of Honeyworth’s holdings in Jollibee and emphasized continued buying activity by other shareholders, citing the recent series of purchases by Hyper Dynamic Corp. the holding company of Jollibee’s founding owners and the biggest shareholder. “Honeyworth Corporation’s disposition of JFC shares appears to be part of a portfolio management program of Antonio Chua Poe Eng and his family. I don’t think it’s tied to any negative view of JFC’s business,” said Juan Paolo Colet, managing director at China Bank Capital Corp. Based on Jollibee’s list of top 100 shareholders (common shares) as of end-December 2025, Honeyworth ranked fifth with total holdings of nearly 16 million common shares, equivalent to an overall stake of 1.42 percent. Manny Ocampo, president and COO of Investment & Capital Corp. of the Philippines, added that Honeyworth and its related entities, such as Honeysea Corp., collectively own less than 7 percent of Jollibee. “From what I can see, Honeyworth buys and sells JFC shares periodically. Maybe they are just working down [their] holdings,” he said. Analysts said that Jollibee’s strong brand recognition and ongoing expansion, both locally and internationally, had made the homegrown quick service restaurant chain a dominant player in the sector, backed by shareholders who continue to show confidence in its growth trajectory. Jollibee shares on Tuesday slipped P0.60, or 0.29 percent, to close at P207.00 each amid a 0.17-percent drop for the benchmark Philippine Stock Exchange index.
