Sometime in June of 1988 we started training our first two batches of STore MaRkeTing or SMART Coordinators. They were our counterpart of McD's STARs (STore Activities Representatives) and were tasked with basically 2 things: 1) Implement local store marketing activities that would build store's sales and 2) Do customer relations and community relations activities to build customer goodwill.
My Training department worked closely with our Local Store Marketing (LSM) group in developing the training program that would produce these cadre of store-based marketing representatives.
Because they were going to be called "SMART" Coordinators we had to make sure that the people we hired were indeed smart. Our HR Recruitment and Operations representatives meticulously screened candidates for about six months until we were able to complete 2 batches of 12 SMART Trainees for our first pilot run of the program.
Since we did not have any idea of what these people were supposed to be doing we resorted to "counter-intelligence" tactics. We asked our managers who came from McD to brief us on what the STARs did by way of Key Result Areas (KRAs) and what they were supposed to do on a day-to-day basis.
For several months, I paid visits to McDonald's stores and observed the red-coated STARs as they went about their jobs. For example, I noticed that the McD STARs would go around and sometimes give novelty items to kids, or invite customers for a store tour,activities which we would also include in our own SMART's job descriptions.
Looking back, I can say that we had a good start to our own program.
The 24 SMARTs we hired lived up to expectations in that they executed what we taught them. One SMART (from JB Circle),for instance, really walked around her store's retail trading area and identified possible traffic generators. Another one (from the former JB Crossroads Arcade) was so good in customer relations that she impressed our then EVP S' Ato Tanmantiong with her skills in talking with customers.
As in any start up effort we had our share of problems. For one, some of our SMARTs were placed in high volume stores such that they did not need to initiate any new LSM efforts, and were stuck with just doing customer relations and running birthday parties.
Another problem had to do with the stores' need for additional help. Since the managers looked at the SMARTs as additional hands, more often than note they were "asked" to help out in operations specially during peak periods, to serve customer orders or deal with complaints. This left the SMARTs with little time to conceptualize sales building activities.
When Operations and Marketing finally threshed out the kinks in the system,the SMARTs were able to carry out their duties with maximum effect.
Having the SMARTs around helped Store managers maintain a focus on local store marketing,which had until then been given just a perfunctory effort by managers. As a result of this focus, store sales definitely grew further establishing Jollibee's dominance over it's American rival.
Sunday, May 18, 2008
Tuesday, May 13, 2008
JOLLY BUBBLES:A DEMONSTRATION OF THE POWER OF BRAND JOLLIBEE
One of the most intriguing examples of how brand magic works was when Jollibee launched Jolly Bubbles.
I can still remember the reaction of the store managers when Toti Ferriols,our Promotions Officer, "unveiled" this novelty item that was supposed to bring in incremental sales for that quarter. It was more like a collective groan of disappointment, and if you could just read the minds of the managers they were probably saying:"What the @#!!! are these marketing guys thinking?"
Jolly Bubbles was really nothing but soap bubbles in a small plastic container decorated with pictures of the Jollibee mascots. If I recall correctly,there were 4 designs to choose from, and each one cost P20.00 for a minimum food purchase.
Hands were raised after Toti made his pitch on the promotion's sales objectives. The main concern of the managers was how could they expect to sell this thing when cheaper,"unbranded" versions (about P15 -P16) were being peddled by vendors on the sidewalks!
Needless to say,Toti had a bad day that day. But things got worse!
Within the first week of the promotion, the Jolly Bubbles were sold out, and the stores were now asking for replenishment of their stocks. However, since Marketing didn't expect the response to the promo to be this great,they had prepared only so much buffer stock of the item.
The consumers' irrational response to the promo surprised everyone..specially the doubting Thomases among the store managers who didn't believe Jolly Bubbles would sell at all! They had underestimated the power of Brand Jollibee. They did not imagine that just by printing the Jollibee Mascots on something and selling it with the name "Jollibee" would make it saleable.
Toti had the last laugh after all...but he had to first find a way to supply the stores with stocks of Jolly Bubbles.
Since then, Toti's mood became an indicator of whether a promotion was successful or not. If he was calm and cool,then the promo was a flop (i.e. sales were slow so novelty items were abundant in supply .) If he was cranky and hot-tempered,that meant the promotion was a success (i.e., sales were so good, stocks were short in supply.)
After this came the Jolly Flipwatch,where in customers really flipped...but that's another story.
I can still remember the reaction of the store managers when Toti Ferriols,our Promotions Officer, "unveiled" this novelty item that was supposed to bring in incremental sales for that quarter. It was more like a collective groan of disappointment, and if you could just read the minds of the managers they were probably saying:"What the @#!!! are these marketing guys thinking?"
Jolly Bubbles was really nothing but soap bubbles in a small plastic container decorated with pictures of the Jollibee mascots. If I recall correctly,there were 4 designs to choose from, and each one cost P20.00 for a minimum food purchase.
Hands were raised after Toti made his pitch on the promotion's sales objectives. The main concern of the managers was how could they expect to sell this thing when cheaper,"unbranded" versions (about P15 -P16) were being peddled by vendors on the sidewalks!
Needless to say,Toti had a bad day that day. But things got worse!
Within the first week of the promotion, the Jolly Bubbles were sold out, and the stores were now asking for replenishment of their stocks. However, since Marketing didn't expect the response to the promo to be this great,they had prepared only so much buffer stock of the item.
The consumers' irrational response to the promo surprised everyone..specially the doubting Thomases among the store managers who didn't believe Jolly Bubbles would sell at all! They had underestimated the power of Brand Jollibee. They did not imagine that just by printing the Jollibee Mascots on something and selling it with the name "Jollibee" would make it saleable.
Toti had the last laugh after all...but he had to first find a way to supply the stores with stocks of Jolly Bubbles.
Since then, Toti's mood became an indicator of whether a promotion was successful or not. If he was calm and cool,then the promo was a flop (i.e. sales were slow so novelty items were abundant in supply .) If he was cranky and hot-tempered,that meant the promotion was a success (i.e., sales were so good, stocks were short in supply.)
After this came the Jolly Flipwatch,where in customers really flipped...but that's another story.
Thursday, April 24, 2008
C'MON BABY LET'S DO THE TWIRL
McDonald's had sundaes and softserve cones in their menu but we didn't have anything to match these until we launched Jolly Twirls. These were Vanilla and Chocolate flavored softserve product which could be served as sundaes topped with a choice of choco fudge,strawberry and rainbow sprinkles. They could also be served on cones.
Giving birth to the Jolly Twirls was difficult. For starters, the local distributor of the softserve machine,the Taylor 8756, did not have more than 100 units we needed for a systemwide launch. They informed us that these still had to be manufactured by Taylor USA which meant we had to wait about 3 months before we could finalize our product launch.
Our supplier had only one Taylor Machine available but it had to be housed at the R&D Office at the Commissary because our R&D specialists needed it for their product development studies.
We decided that the effective batch size to train was a maximum of 10 people at a time.For one,the room where the softserve was located was cramped.We also needed to keep group size manageable so our participants would have "hands on" training on how to assemble, disassemble and operate the machine.
In all, we needed about 80 training sessions to be done in a total of 45 days. So how to do this?
We figured that if we could increase the number of trainers then we could complete the training within the short time frame allowed us.So, I trained my staff first and required them to be able to do all machine operations. Next, we trained the Area Managers whom we would tap to help us train their own store teams.
We planned on conducting three sessions every day. The first class would start at around 7AM and run to about 11 AM. The second shift would then come in from 12 noon to 4:00PM. The last class would run from 4;30 to about 8:30PM.
It was hard work,specially for those of us who handled the night shifts because oftentimes the afternoon class ended late and so we were going home close to 10 PM at times. But we were able to give all managers and crews their first experience of handling the machine.
When time came for the roll-out of the product in all our stores,we were in for some surprises.
Giving birth to the Jolly Twirls was difficult. For starters, the local distributor of the softserve machine,the Taylor 8756, did not have more than 100 units we needed for a systemwide launch. They informed us that these still had to be manufactured by Taylor USA which meant we had to wait about 3 months before we could finalize our product launch.
Our supplier had only one Taylor Machine available but it had to be housed at the R&D Office at the Commissary because our R&D specialists needed it for their product development studies.
This presented me with a big problem and a challenge.
The operations of the Taylor machine were complicated so my Training department had to train about 800 store managers and crews before they could use it. Problem was we had only that one machine for our use and we didn't have full control over its use!
We decided that the effective batch size to train was a maximum of 10 people at a time.For one,the room where the softserve was located was cramped.We also needed to keep group size manageable so our participants would have "hands on" training on how to assemble, disassemble and operate the machine.
In all, we needed about 80 training sessions to be done in a total of 45 days. So how to do this?
We figured that if we could increase the number of trainers then we could complete the training within the short time frame allowed us.So, I trained my staff first and required them to be able to do all machine operations. Next, we trained the Area Managers whom we would tap to help us train their own store teams.
We planned on conducting three sessions every day. The first class would start at around 7AM and run to about 11 AM. The second shift would then come in from 12 noon to 4:00PM. The last class would run from 4;30 to about 8:30PM.
It was hard work,specially for those of us who handled the night shifts because oftentimes the afternoon class ended late and so we were going home close to 10 PM at times. But we were able to give all managers and crews their first experience of handling the machine.
When time came for the roll-out of the product in all our stores,we were in for some surprises.
Because we had focused our training on the softserve machine operations and not so much on how to produce the final product, we had a lot of negative comments from customers about our crews not knowing how to serve a proper sundae or cone. Most of the time,the customers were served underportioned product because the crews did not know the technique for properly drawing the softserve.
To remedy the situation we required all stores to identify those crew members who knew how to draw the product correctly and designate them as softserve persons.
After a week or so, our crews got the hang of serving our Jolly Twirls correctly so we heard less and less complaints about the product. Less than a year after we introduced softserve,the novelty of the product wore off and we were faced with slow sales of the Chocolate flavored twirl and the Rainbow sprinkle sundae. We eventually phased these out.
There was one negative side-effect of the Jolly Twirls launch on me. Because I had to sample the product many times over during the training period, I developed an aversion for it so much so that I rarely ate softserve when it was finally on the market.
Wednesday, April 23, 2008
PEACH MANGO PIE: A PRODUCT 4 YEARS IN THE MAKING
Peach Mango Pie or PMP as we called it, was Jollibee's answer to McDo's Apple Pie. It was also a product that was meant to fill up our very vacant line of desserts. To get it out in the market though we had to wait for about 4 years!
The idea of serving Peach Mango Pie was hatched as early as 1987. I know because it became the subject of an on-the - job Decision Analysis case study when we went through a Systematic Managerial Analysis course at DAP, Tagaytay early 1987.
The group tasked with figuring out how to get the product launched identified the "Must" criteria to enable the stores to serve the product. One of the critical musts was that the product must be at a frozen state when delivered to our stores. To be able to do that we needed a freezer van and that was going to cost millions of pesos!
When a rough payback analysis was made we realized that if we were to get a freezer van just to deliver pie to about 30 plus stores that year, the investment was not going to be worth it. So,the idea of serving Peach Mango Pie was shelved temporarliy until we could have the right number of stores to justify buying a freezer van.
It took about 4 years before we reached that critical mass. We had grown to about close to a hundred stores by then so the investment in freezer vans to deliver the frozen pies could now be justified.
We found out though that having a freezer van just solved one problem. We were in for a lot more surprises as we neared the launch of PMP.
During the initial tests of the prototype product we almost always had a perfect pie because our R&D produced these in small batches. The filling was a well balanced combination of mango bits and chunks of peach that tasted delicious and, we all agreed, would give McD's apple pie a run for its money.
However, when time came for big batch runs to be produced, we couldn't get the same consistency of the filling anymore. What we got was almost a liquid filling like mango jam, that didn't have any solids in it. We found out that when produced in commercial quantities the mango and peach tended to get beat into a pulp so the chunks and bits disappeared. R&D had to find a way to correct the problem.
When that problem was fixed we launched the product. It was an instant hit. Customers flocked to our stores to try the product out and because of this, during the first week we had complaints about stores running out of the pie.
However, as it turned out, the stock outs were not due to demand alone but because there were a lot of pies being rejected!
When the frozen pies reached the stores there were some that were a bit oversized. After frying, the edges of these pies got stuck on the pie holder and when the crew member tried to take these out,the pie crust would break.
So right in the middle of the product launch the Product Work Group had to figure out a way of getting pies unstuck without breaking.
The stopgap solution until Production corrected the size of the pies was for the stores to coat the pie holders with oil before loading the pies. This helped minimize the number of pies sticking to the metal. Then, in case a pie still got stuck, we recommended using a knife to pry it out of the pie slots.
Peach Mango Pie has since become a mainstay in the Jollibee Menu although its size has been reduced to what they now call Pocket Pies. There are also variants of the filling which include Tuna and Ube Macapuno.
The idea of serving Peach Mango Pie was hatched as early as 1987. I know because it became the subject of an on-the - job Decision Analysis case study when we went through a Systematic Managerial Analysis course at DAP, Tagaytay early 1987.
The group tasked with figuring out how to get the product launched identified the "Must" criteria to enable the stores to serve the product. One of the critical musts was that the product must be at a frozen state when delivered to our stores. To be able to do that we needed a freezer van and that was going to cost millions of pesos!
When a rough payback analysis was made we realized that if we were to get a freezer van just to deliver pie to about 30 plus stores that year, the investment was not going to be worth it. So,the idea of serving Peach Mango Pie was shelved temporarliy until we could have the right number of stores to justify buying a freezer van.
It took about 4 years before we reached that critical mass. We had grown to about close to a hundred stores by then so the investment in freezer vans to deliver the frozen pies could now be justified.
We found out though that having a freezer van just solved one problem. We were in for a lot more surprises as we neared the launch of PMP.
During the initial tests of the prototype product we almost always had a perfect pie because our R&D produced these in small batches. The filling was a well balanced combination of mango bits and chunks of peach that tasted delicious and, we all agreed, would give McD's apple pie a run for its money.
However, when time came for big batch runs to be produced, we couldn't get the same consistency of the filling anymore. What we got was almost a liquid filling like mango jam, that didn't have any solids in it. We found out that when produced in commercial quantities the mango and peach tended to get beat into a pulp so the chunks and bits disappeared. R&D had to find a way to correct the problem.
When that problem was fixed we launched the product. It was an instant hit. Customers flocked to our stores to try the product out and because of this, during the first week we had complaints about stores running out of the pie.
However, as it turned out, the stock outs were not due to demand alone but because there were a lot of pies being rejected!
When the frozen pies reached the stores there were some that were a bit oversized. After frying, the edges of these pies got stuck on the pie holder and when the crew member tried to take these out,the pie crust would break.
So right in the middle of the product launch the Product Work Group had to figure out a way of getting pies unstuck without breaking.
The stopgap solution until Production corrected the size of the pies was for the stores to coat the pie holders with oil before loading the pies. This helped minimize the number of pies sticking to the metal. Then, in case a pie still got stuck, we recommended using a knife to pry it out of the pie slots.
Peach Mango Pie has since become a mainstay in the Jollibee Menu although its size has been reduced to what they now call Pocket Pies. There are also variants of the filling which include Tuna and Ube Macapuno.
Tuesday, April 22, 2008
McD's DOLPHY COMMERCIALS: A Case Against Using Celebrity Endorsers
"McDo's got Dolphy!"
This was the buzz that spread around Jollibee HQ when we learned that McDonald's had contracted RP's King of Comedy to do some commercials for them. This was about the time when McD was desperately trying to Filipinize its image in a bid to win over patrons to their side.
True, one of Jollibee's reason for success was that we were a homegrown brand and we had somehow instilled a sense of patriotism in our loyal customers. McDo realized this early on and so tried to present itself as maka-Pinoy and maka-masa. What better way to do this than to show Dolphy as a McDonald's fan.
There was reason to be concerned about this because Dolphy had such a great appeal with his fans. He was recognizable and he was likeable. He was also very expensive then so it just showed to what lengths McDonald's was willing to go to grab market share from us.
I don't exactly recall the content of the Dolphy TV commercials,but one showed him doing the "M" sign with his arms and hands on top of his head. The other which was an indirect attack on Jollibee showed him dressed up as a superhero,cape and all, punching a gigantic bee that was attacking him!
We could see the immediate impact of these commercials specially on kids who would imitate Dolphy's "M" sign. McDo also made sure that these were aired during primetime so you could just imagine the brand recall during the first two weeks of airing.
Unfortunately for McDonald's though, that's about how long they could put their material on air!
At about the time the commercials started being shown, Dolphy figured in a "scandal" that became the talk of the town. It involved sultry singer-actress Zsa Zsa Padilla. Rumor had it that she and Dolphy had an affair. At the time she was still married, (though not happily, I heard) to a dentist Dr. (I forget his first name)Tatlonghari,who coincidentally, lived just several floors below our unit at Continental Court in Greenhills.
Because of the scandal, Dolphy didn't appear "wholesome" anymore in the public's eye at the time. McDonald's had no choice but to pull out the commercials!
Lucky for us!
A few months later, Jollibee came out with a TV commercial featuring well-known singers who were members of the OPM (Organisayon ng Pilipinong Mang-aawit). The likes of the Apo Hiking society, Basil Valdez, Celeste Legaspi, Nonoy Zuniga,Subas Herrero,Noel Trinidad and others sang; "Awitin namin..Pilipino!"
It was a counterattack to McDo's Dolphy commercial! Basic Advertising, our ad agency then, had come up with a brilliant but subtle way of pitting Dolphy against all the members of OPM. And the song was a claim that the brand that OPM was supporting (Jollibee) was the real Pilipino!
Judging from the way our sales boomed that year, you can make a guess which brand's celebrity endorsement worked better.
This was the buzz that spread around Jollibee HQ when we learned that McDonald's had contracted RP's King of Comedy to do some commercials for them. This was about the time when McD was desperately trying to Filipinize its image in a bid to win over patrons to their side.
True, one of Jollibee's reason for success was that we were a homegrown brand and we had somehow instilled a sense of patriotism in our loyal customers. McDo realized this early on and so tried to present itself as maka-Pinoy and maka-masa. What better way to do this than to show Dolphy as a McDonald's fan.
There was reason to be concerned about this because Dolphy had such a great appeal with his fans. He was recognizable and he was likeable. He was also very expensive then so it just showed to what lengths McDonald's was willing to go to grab market share from us.
I don't exactly recall the content of the Dolphy TV commercials,but one showed him doing the "M" sign with his arms and hands on top of his head. The other which was an indirect attack on Jollibee showed him dressed up as a superhero,cape and all, punching a gigantic bee that was attacking him!
We could see the immediate impact of these commercials specially on kids who would imitate Dolphy's "M" sign. McDo also made sure that these were aired during primetime so you could just imagine the brand recall during the first two weeks of airing.
Unfortunately for McDonald's though, that's about how long they could put their material on air!
At about the time the commercials started being shown, Dolphy figured in a "scandal" that became the talk of the town. It involved sultry singer-actress Zsa Zsa Padilla. Rumor had it that she and Dolphy had an affair. At the time she was still married, (though not happily, I heard) to a dentist Dr. (I forget his first name)Tatlonghari,who coincidentally, lived just several floors below our unit at Continental Court in Greenhills.
Because of the scandal, Dolphy didn't appear "wholesome" anymore in the public's eye at the time. McDonald's had no choice but to pull out the commercials!
Lucky for us!
A few months later, Jollibee came out with a TV commercial featuring well-known singers who were members of the OPM (Organisayon ng Pilipinong Mang-aawit). The likes of the Apo Hiking society, Basil Valdez, Celeste Legaspi, Nonoy Zuniga,Subas Herrero,Noel Trinidad and others sang; "Awitin namin..Pilipino!"
It was a counterattack to McDo's Dolphy commercial! Basic Advertising, our ad agency then, had come up with a brilliant but subtle way of pitting Dolphy against all the members of OPM. And the song was a claim that the brand that OPM was supporting (Jollibee) was the real Pilipino!
Judging from the way our sales boomed that year, you can make a guess which brand's celebrity endorsement worked better.
Thursday, April 17, 2008
THE DAY McDONALD'S "SOLD" JOLLIBEE'S BURGERS
It was McDonald's 10th anniversary in the Philippines, and to celebrate this milestone McDonald's offered 10 Peso burgers! (If I remember right,this was in 1992.)
We, at Jollibee, were greatly concerned about the impact of this promotion on our sales because we foresaw that customers would really go for such a price down offering. So we advised all stores that had a McDonald's beside them to observe what would happen on the day of the promo launch and keep headquarters informed of any negative effects on their sales.
As expected, when McDonald's stores opened their doors that day,customers lined up to take advantage of the 10 Peso burgers. But what happened as the day progressed was completely unexpected!
Apparently, many of the McD customers who bought the burgers in bulk intended to resell these later. Because of the heavy demand,many McD stores ran out of stocks and started limiting the number of burgers each customer could buy at one time. Some stores started closing their doors to customers as early as mid-morning to avoid creating more demand.
The McD promo was a huge success in terms of creating demand...but it also backfired and worked to Jollibee's advantage.
Contrary to our expectations,our stores reported, not declining sales...but increasing sales!
It seems that when customers could not avail of the 10 Peso burgers, they got disappointed with McDonald's and went to our stores instead. McDonald's had brought customers out of their homes to buy burgers, but when they couldn't get McD's brand they readily shifted to ours.
"Ayaw niyo pa la kaming bigyan ha...eh di sa Jollibee na lang kami!" was an actual remark of customer who was disgusted at having to be turned away by a McD store when it had run out of stock.
At the end of the day, Jollibee stores reported huge increases in sales...thanks to McDonald's!
We, at Jollibee, were greatly concerned about the impact of this promotion on our sales because we foresaw that customers would really go for such a price down offering. So we advised all stores that had a McDonald's beside them to observe what would happen on the day of the promo launch and keep headquarters informed of any negative effects on their sales.
As expected, when McDonald's stores opened their doors that day,customers lined up to take advantage of the 10 Peso burgers. But what happened as the day progressed was completely unexpected!
Apparently, many of the McD customers who bought the burgers in bulk intended to resell these later. Because of the heavy demand,many McD stores ran out of stocks and started limiting the number of burgers each customer could buy at one time. Some stores started closing their doors to customers as early as mid-morning to avoid creating more demand.
The McD promo was a huge success in terms of creating demand...but it also backfired and worked to Jollibee's advantage.
Contrary to our expectations,our stores reported, not declining sales...but increasing sales!
It seems that when customers could not avail of the 10 Peso burgers, they got disappointed with McDonald's and went to our stores instead. McDonald's had brought customers out of their homes to buy burgers, but when they couldn't get McD's brand they readily shifted to ours.
"Ayaw niyo pa la kaming bigyan ha...eh di sa Jollibee na lang kami!" was an actual remark of customer who was disgusted at having to be turned away by a McD store when it had run out of stock.
At the end of the day, Jollibee stores reported huge increases in sales...thanks to McDonald's!
Friday, April 4, 2008
THE BATTLE FOR LANDMARK
"You've got to see what's happening at Landmark,"My boss, Abelle Carlos told me one day in 1988 .
Landmark is a mall in Makati which had just opened its doors to the public that year, and it would have been insignificant except for the fact that this was the first time that the two competing burger brands,Jollibee and McDonald's, were located together in one foodcourt.
Makati,being predominantly a Class AB market was supposedly McDonald's territory. McD claimed that its stores in the area had bigger sales than our stores but no one had evidence that this was true.
This was going to be the litmus test of McDonald's boast.
Jollibee's and McD's stores were just at opposite ends of each other. McDonald's had a slightly larger area because it had its own exclusive dining area which Jollibee didn't have. Just by visually estimating the the size of the crowds at the counters or by checking the number of cups,or styro packs that would be found in the common dining area, one could get a feel of who was selling more.
Since the pride of the brand was at stake here, the battle for Landmark became a no holds barred affair.
From Day 1 both brands resorted to giving out leaflets to passing customers hoping to entice them to their side. It was a sight to behold! For every crew Jollibee had, there was a McD counterpart handing out leaflets.
When simple leafletting didn't do the trick, both brands resorted to a price and promotions war.
The leaflets were now stamped with FREE items that were to be given to customers for a specific food purchase. Each tried to outdo the other in giving away something, just to be able to attract customers. And the promos changed from day to day depending on what the competition did.
For example, if McDonald's offered a free sundae cone for every P 50 purchase, Jollibee would come out with a free Fries and Coke offering.
Since it was just the two brands going all out in giving away free food, naturally customers gravitated to either one of the two, leaving the other food court brands with the scraps. Eventually, though these also joined in the fray and started offering their own free items. It came to a point that if you wanted to get free meals all you needed to do was bring a friend along to Landmark,buy the minimum purchase and your friend would get everything else for free!
So who won after the battle for Landmark.
Of course, both sides claimed victory although our contact in the Landmark administration who used to work with Jollibee revealed that Jollibee's sales were slightly better than our rival.
The after effect of all this though was that both stores lost money during the initial skirmishes until they stopped their promos. It was the customers who won in the end.
A couple of years later, I was told that when Jollibee and McDonald's opened side by side in another Mall (Manuela now Starmall at Crossing,) the McDonald's sub-franchisee spoke with S' Tommy King, the Jollibee Manuela franchisee, and both agreed not to repeat what happened during the Battle for Landmark!
Landmark is a mall in Makati which had just opened its doors to the public that year, and it would have been insignificant except for the fact that this was the first time that the two competing burger brands,Jollibee and McDonald's, were located together in one foodcourt.
Makati,being predominantly a Class AB market was supposedly McDonald's territory. McD claimed that its stores in the area had bigger sales than our stores but no one had evidence that this was true.
This was going to be the litmus test of McDonald's boast.
Jollibee's and McD's stores were just at opposite ends of each other. McDonald's had a slightly larger area because it had its own exclusive dining area which Jollibee didn't have. Just by visually estimating the the size of the crowds at the counters or by checking the number of cups,or styro packs that would be found in the common dining area, one could get a feel of who was selling more.
Since the pride of the brand was at stake here, the battle for Landmark became a no holds barred affair.
From Day 1 both brands resorted to giving out leaflets to passing customers hoping to entice them to their side. It was a sight to behold! For every crew Jollibee had, there was a McD counterpart handing out leaflets.
When simple leafletting didn't do the trick, both brands resorted to a price and promotions war.
The leaflets were now stamped with FREE items that were to be given to customers for a specific food purchase. Each tried to outdo the other in giving away something, just to be able to attract customers. And the promos changed from day to day depending on what the competition did.
For example, if McDonald's offered a free sundae cone for every P 50 purchase, Jollibee would come out with a free Fries and Coke offering.
Since it was just the two brands going all out in giving away free food, naturally customers gravitated to either one of the two, leaving the other food court brands with the scraps. Eventually, though these also joined in the fray and started offering their own free items. It came to a point that if you wanted to get free meals all you needed to do was bring a friend along to Landmark,buy the minimum purchase and your friend would get everything else for free!
So who won after the battle for Landmark.
Of course, both sides claimed victory although our contact in the Landmark administration who used to work with Jollibee revealed that Jollibee's sales were slightly better than our rival.
The after effect of all this though was that both stores lost money during the initial skirmishes until they stopped their promos. It was the customers who won in the end.
A couple of years later, I was told that when Jollibee and McDonald's opened side by side in another Mall (Manuela now Starmall at Crossing,) the McDonald's sub-franchisee spoke with S' Tommy King, the Jollibee Manuela franchisee, and both agreed not to repeat what happened during the Battle for Landmark!
Sunday, March 9, 2008
IT'S ABOUT TAKING GOOD CARE OF PEOPLE...S_ _ _ _D!
I think that one of the reasons for Jollibee's tremendous growth and success during the '80's was that it was able to attract good talent and keep them.
During its expansion binge from 1986 to the early '90's there was always an opening for store managers and since there weren't many ready talents from the ranks of the crews, Jollibee had to resort to pirating from other fastfood chains. By then, it already had the reputation for giving higher than industry salaries and benefits. It was also known as an employer that took good care of its people.
From KFC alone,there were so many of us who transferred to JFC in 1985 to 87. There were the likes of: Jimmy Ramos,Connie Mendoza,Leonie Soriano (they were among the first to migrate to Jollibee.) Then came Jimmy Enriquez (one of the prize catches from KFC,)Raffy Selga, Meann San Juan, Livia Pinggoy,Mimi Fernandez,Bambi Bejo,Iyoh Villamayor,Macy Ang,Malou Vidal,Louie Madlangbayan, Susan Almazan,Carmen Reyes and myself.
Then sometime in 1987,nine managers from McDonald's joined the ranks of Jollibee. Those whom I recall were: Fermin Fajardo, Rafael Recio, Tess Valdepenas,Gildy Abrigo, and Vina Evangelista.
Later on, managers from Pizza Hut, Shakey's and Wendy's would turn up at the recruitment office of Jollibee,all wanting to be part of the number one fastfood chain in the country.
Jollibee benefitted a lot from this infusion of "fresh blood" even if it came from rival chains. Each of the brands had their peculiar strengths from which Jollibee learned.
For example, it couldn't be denied that McD's strength lay in its strong operating systems. The ex-McD's shared their ideas on how to further improve Jollibee's production and service systems. In fact, a lot of the ideas we implemented in our Managing Service and Managing Production projects originated from a study of McDonald's operations.
When it came to people handling though, ex-KFC managers had an edge. At KFC,they had to handle tough,hard-headed union regulars. So when they transferred to Jollibee,which was also unionized but under a moderate union, the labor problems they had to face were relatively"easy to handle."
The other brands' losses became Jollibee's gains. Many of the ex- KFC people rose to occupy key positions in the Jollibee organization. For instance, Iyoh Villamayor,who became the Regional Business Unit head of Jollibee Metro- Manila is now spearheading Jollibee USA's expansion in the East Coast. Jimmy Enriquez is now Operations Director of Chowking,Jollibee's sister brand. Others became Area Managers or Group Managers of Franchise stores.
Many of these have also stayed with Jollibee for a long time (more than twenty years) which says a lot of how Jollibee has really taken good care of its key talents.
During its expansion binge from 1986 to the early '90's there was always an opening for store managers and since there weren't many ready talents from the ranks of the crews, Jollibee had to resort to pirating from other fastfood chains. By then, it already had the reputation for giving higher than industry salaries and benefits. It was also known as an employer that took good care of its people.
From KFC alone,there were so many of us who transferred to JFC in 1985 to 87. There were the likes of: Jimmy Ramos,Connie Mendoza,Leonie Soriano (they were among the first to migrate to Jollibee.) Then came Jimmy Enriquez (one of the prize catches from KFC,)Raffy Selga, Meann San Juan, Livia Pinggoy,Mimi Fernandez,Bambi Bejo,Iyoh Villamayor,Macy Ang,Malou Vidal,Louie Madlangbayan, Susan Almazan,Carmen Reyes and myself.
Then sometime in 1987,nine managers from McDonald's joined the ranks of Jollibee. Those whom I recall were: Fermin Fajardo, Rafael Recio, Tess Valdepenas,Gildy Abrigo, and Vina Evangelista.
Later on, managers from Pizza Hut, Shakey's and Wendy's would turn up at the recruitment office of Jollibee,all wanting to be part of the number one fastfood chain in the country.
Jollibee benefitted a lot from this infusion of "fresh blood" even if it came from rival chains. Each of the brands had their peculiar strengths from which Jollibee learned.
For example, it couldn't be denied that McD's strength lay in its strong operating systems. The ex-McD's shared their ideas on how to further improve Jollibee's production and service systems. In fact, a lot of the ideas we implemented in our Managing Service and Managing Production projects originated from a study of McDonald's operations.
When it came to people handling though, ex-KFC managers had an edge. At KFC,they had to handle tough,hard-headed union regulars. So when they transferred to Jollibee,which was also unionized but under a moderate union, the labor problems they had to face were relatively"easy to handle."
The other brands' losses became Jollibee's gains. Many of the ex- KFC people rose to occupy key positions in the Jollibee organization. For instance, Iyoh Villamayor,who became the Regional Business Unit head of Jollibee Metro- Manila is now spearheading Jollibee USA's expansion in the East Coast. Jimmy Enriquez is now Operations Director of Chowking,Jollibee's sister brand. Others became Area Managers or Group Managers of Franchise stores.
Many of these have also stayed with Jollibee for a long time (more than twenty years) which says a lot of how Jollibee has really taken good care of its key talents.
Tuesday, March 4, 2008
IT'S JOLLIBEE GOOD! SCORING A MARKETING COUP
(The end tag of the "It's Jollibee Good! TV Commercial)It will probably be remembered as the TV commercial that launched the career of actress Carmina Villaroel. But for those of us who were present at that sales rally in June,1988, it was a marketing coup of sorts against our rival McDonald's.
During the latter part of the '80's,the rivalry between Jollibee and McDonald's was heating up,with both sides claiming supremacy over the Philippine fastfood market. By 1988,we had more than 30 stores while McD had probably less than 20.
But they,through spokesperson Greg Yang, always boasted of having higher sales per store. Their argument was if we matched them store by store they would come out on top.
Bobby Sumulong, our Marketing VP then, had a ready answer to that argument. He said that if you computed sales on the basis of floor area, our Jollibee stores, which were usually smaller than McD's behemoths, would definitely be generating more sales per square meter.
One arena where the Battle of the Burgers was closely fought was in Marketing. For instance, when McDonald's hired Martin Nievera to do a commercial, Jollibee countered with a TVC featuring Martin's close friend,Gary Valenciano, in what we call the "Gotta Bite" commercial.
Whenever McD had a novelty promo using their mascots,we came up with our own featuring all 8 mascots. When they saw that we were making brisk sales with Jollibee Spaghetti,they retaliated with their own McSpaghetti,which we found out was only served here in the Philippines.
McDonald's had an advantage when it came to launching TV commercials because they could just easily use any canned material from the USA. They also didn't have to figure out what campaign would work because any marketing effort would most likely have been tested somewhere else in the world.
At about this time,they had a very catchy slogan: "Good Times! Great Taste! McDonald's" which, besides being easy to remember and recall, was a direct attack on a strength we at Jollibee claimed:i.e., we had better tasting products than they had.
We had capitalized on this by highlighting that McD's taste was bland and not suited to the Filipino palate. For several years, we had used the tag line "Jollibee...Langhap Sarap" with great success.
Our advertising agency, Basic Foot,Cone & Belding (Basic FCB) thought it was high time we became more aggressive in the fight for our customers top of mind. They came out with, not one... but two,TV thematic ad concepts which revolved around the tagline:"All the good things you hunger for..IT'S JOLLIBEE GOOD!"
The accompanying jingle was easy to remember and memorize, such that even after 20 years I can still sing it :
If you long for something good
It stays in your mind
If you want it so much
You crave deep inside
And when you get it
It's Jollibee good
When you get it
It's Jollibee good
All the good things you hunger for
It's Jollibee good!
In a subtle way,we had counter attacked McD's "Good Times! Great Taste!" and come up with a catchy line of our own;"It's Jollibee Good!"
Needless to say, when the commercials were aired on TV and the supporting media blitzes were launched, we left McD eating our dust, so to speak.
Monday, March 3, 2008
THE HUMBLE BEE THAT IS TONY TAN
"Sir Tony! Could we have a picture with you?"
Our Franchisees' Convention program had just finished but Chowking franchisees,Managing directors and even Chowking officers stayed behind asking to have their picture taken with S' Tony Tancaktiong, Jollibee's founder and Chairman.
Several feet away,other franchisees were having their photo taken with singer-entertainer Ogie Alcasid,who was our guest speaker. Eventually,this group thinned out when Ogie left the session hall but the cluster of people surrounding S' Tony didn't. They wanted to have their picture with Mr. Jollibee himself, and S' Tony,ever the kind person he is, obliged.
Since it had been quite a while since I had my own picture taken with TTC, I snuck up beside him when I had the chance, and my wife, Jaja, took one of us for posterity.
Anyone who has read about Jollibee's success and Tony Tan's ever growing dynasty of food chains can have the impression that he is probably unreachable,as other so-called taipans seem to be.
But S' Tony is none of that.
For me, he is an example of a person who knows where he came from,and who has not been spoiled by success. I admire him for his humble when in fact he owns bragging rights for having built a Filipino brand.
One of Jollibee's core values is "Humility to Listen and Learn." There is no better embodiment of this than S' Tony himself.
It's interesting to note that "Humility" was not listed among Jollibee's core values when in 1996, Jollibee's top management went through a review and re-defining of its core mission and values. It was one of the Tan brothers, William Tanuntiong, who insisted that "Humility" be included.
He cited an example from his own Real Estate division,where some of his people chided one of their colleagues for being arrogant. "That behavior does not belong here," they had told the erring manager,"that belongs to McDo."(referring to McDonald's)
Then his clinching argument...he said that in the first place S' Tony, the President, was modelled humility by his own behavior.
Nobody questioned that.
In fact, when I conducted the series of orientation sessions on The Jollibee Way (a Jollibee corporate culture workshop,)whenever we talked about the value of humility,someone always had a story to tell about S' Tony's humble ways.
A favorite of mine came from one of the Area Managers,Rachel Bracamonte. She told the story of how she, during one of our Franchisees conventions,had lost one of her earrings somewhere at the lobby of the hotel where we held the event. A search ensued,and she was surprised to see S' Tony on his knees helping out in looking for the missing earrings!
Others would tell of how S' Tony,when he was at a Jollibee store, would pick up litter and throw this himself into the trash bin. He also did not expect preferential treatment when he visited Jollibee stores,always queueing up with customers at the counter lines when he could very well have been served at the tables.
He did not pull rank as President when it came to management decisions. I saw this myself when I had the opportunity to sit in at Mancom sessions in 1996,when my boss, Atty. Buddy Demaisip, would be absent. When he saw merit in a VP's position he acknowledged it and was willing to change his own.
During a recent Leadership learning session here at Jollibee where he was the featured speaker,he somehow explained the reason for the humility he was so known for. He said that he believed that he did not know everything and that he can always learn from someone else.
I can't help but recall one of the beatitudes which goes: "Blessed are the meek for they shall possess the land."
It's no wonder that S' Tony's Jollibee dynasty has now expanded beyond Philippine soil to the Asia Pacific region and to the USA.
Friday, August 24, 2007
WILLIAM TAN'S EXTRA CHALLENGE!
(Cover of the Franchising brochure I made for the Taiwan exhibit)
I experienced this first hand when I was given an assignment by then head of International Operations S' William Tan Untiong (WTU, as he was more popularly known.)
There was to be an expo of fastfoods and restaurants in Taiwan and he wanted Jollibee to be represented there. Jollibee had just opened its first store there in 1987 and he thought that by making the brand visible, we would have some prospective franchisees that would help grow the chain there.
It was Jimmy Enriquez,the point person for our Taiwan operations, who told me of the assignment. What WTU wanted me to do was to come up with a brochure about Jollibee that they would distribute during the expo. What made this extra challenging though was that I had less than a month to finish the brochure.
I had some prior experience doing this kind of work so that was not a problem. The short deadline however, presented complications and limitations.
For one, it would be impossible to have any color printing done since no printer then would accept a job order for color separations less than three weeks. The other concern was that it was only days before Holy Week when I got the assignment. That meant that the printing presses would be closed for a week,leaving me a window of only two weeks tops, to get the brochure out.
Fortunately, I had worked with a printing press that was willing to take on the job, but they told me that the brochure had to be in black and white. I informed WTU about it and since it was a no choice situation, he gave the go ahead.
I sat down with the layout editor of the press and drew up a schedule of when I should submit the dummy layouts, when I should get the blueprint and when they would get the final document out.
I couldn't take any new pictures so the week before Holy Week I already started looking for photos from existing file photos. As I found the pictures, I composed in my mind what the brochure would look like.
During the Holy Week I worked on the contents of the material, writing the copy and creating a layout. There were details and information that were missing so Jimmy and his then girlfriend, Meann San Juan, paid me a visit at home just to give me the data I needed.
The Holy Week break gave me enough time to complete the layouts such that by the Monday of the following week I was at the printer's submitting my dummy layout and all the needed photos.
I kept WTU posted on the status of the project. The only possible hitch we anticipated was that the brochures would be finished a day before he had to fly back to Taiwan to attend the expo.
Thankfully, the printer completed the job as promised. However, that meant I had to wait till about 6 PM at Culmat building for the delivery.
I received the glossy black and white brochures and then drove over to WTU's residence somewhere in Cubao to deliver the copies. I kept one for myself as a souvenir.
WTU greatly appreciated the effort and really wished we had had more time to come up with a color printed material. But he said, that it had come out better than he expected considering the short lead time.
He wrote a letter of appreciation to my boss commending me for what I had done, which really made me feel good!
Tuesday, August 14, 2007
THE DAY I REVERSED THE EVP'S DECISION
This is a favorite story of mine. For me it illustrates how Tans believed and trusted in their people's good judgment.
This happened sometime in December of 1986 when I was preparing for the first ever Managers' Convention of Jollibee,which was to be held in January,1987.
I got a call one afternoon and when I picked it up and said the customary greeting I recognized the familiar voice at the other end. It was S' Tony Tan. And he wanted to get my idea about something related to the convention.
We who were in the committee had agreed to give all participants a custom made jacket as a souvenir. S' Ato,who was head of the project, suggested that we have the Convention logo embazoned at the back of the jacket so that when the managers wore it they would be constantly reminded of our convention theme ("No. 1 Again in '87'.)
What S' Tony wanted was my opinion on where to put the logo. He said,"Ato told me that you plan to put the Convention logo at the back of the jacket. What do you think?"
"What do I think?" I couldn't believe my ears! Here was the President of the company consulting me about a simple matter! He wanted my opinion so I gave it to him.
I told him that when we had met about the matter, it was S' Ato who recommended the placement of the logo at the back. (I made it very clear that it was his brother's choice.)
But if I had my way, I told him, I'd much rather put a small version of the logo in front, at the left side. My reason for that was the jacket looked elegant and having a big logo printed at the back would "cheapen" the look. (But of course, I didn't tell him that.)
After I said my piece,he simply said,"I think so too."Meaning he agreed with my idea about the logo! Then he said thanks and hung up!
I was quite concerned after that because it might appear that I had disagreed with S' Ato's point of view. But at the same time I felt a sense of elation, simple because I had been consulted by the President and had given him my 2 cents!
When the jackets came out,the logo was printed the way I had suggested it..and it really looked great!
I never heard any negative reactions from S' Ato about my "reversal" of his decision, and that is what I admired about the owners and the company.
I would be consulted about many more things during my long stay at Jollibee, but I will always remember the day I reversed S' Ato's decision!
This happened sometime in December of 1986 when I was preparing for the first ever Managers' Convention of Jollibee,which was to be held in January,1987.
I got a call one afternoon and when I picked it up and said the customary greeting I recognized the familiar voice at the other end. It was S' Tony Tan. And he wanted to get my idea about something related to the convention.
We who were in the committee had agreed to give all participants a custom made jacket as a souvenir. S' Ato,who was head of the project, suggested that we have the Convention logo embazoned at the back of the jacket so that when the managers wore it they would be constantly reminded of our convention theme ("No. 1 Again in '87'.)
What S' Tony wanted was my opinion on where to put the logo. He said,"Ato told me that you plan to put the Convention logo at the back of the jacket. What do you think?"
"What do I think?" I couldn't believe my ears! Here was the President of the company consulting me about a simple matter! He wanted my opinion so I gave it to him.
I told him that when we had met about the matter, it was S' Ato who recommended the placement of the logo at the back. (I made it very clear that it was his brother's choice.)
But if I had my way, I told him, I'd much rather put a small version of the logo in front, at the left side. My reason for that was the jacket looked elegant and having a big logo printed at the back would "cheapen" the look. (But of course, I didn't tell him that.)
After I said my piece,he simply said,"I think so too."Meaning he agreed with my idea about the logo! Then he said thanks and hung up!
I was quite concerned after that because it might appear that I had disagreed with S' Ato's point of view. But at the same time I felt a sense of elation, simple because I had been consulted by the President and had given him my 2 cents!
When the jackets came out,the logo was printed the way I had suggested it..and it really looked great!
I never heard any negative reactions from S' Ato about my "reversal" of his decision, and that is what I admired about the owners and the company.
I would be consulted about many more things during my long stay at Jollibee, but I will always remember the day I reversed S' Ato's decision!
Sunday, August 12, 2007
A CASE FOR CRASH TRAINING
I have always been against crash training, specially after having experienced its ill effects while I was still at KFC.
Shortening a training program to its bare essentials and expecting that trainees will be equipped with necessary skills to do the job is really expecting too much of the trainees...and usually ends up as the name suggests, in a "crash."
However, in 1987 I had to agree to launching a "crash training" of our BOTP (Basic Operations Training Program) not only for one, but two, batches of management trainees.
This happened because all of a sudden we had to open three Jollibee stores in two months and there were still no managers ready to run those new stores. Since our regular BOTP ran for one and a half months, we needed to crash the program down to two weeks, after which the trainees would be deployed to their store assignments.
In a crash training situation it is important that the trainers are top caliber instructors and it is also imperative that the trainees' progress is closely monitored. To meet these requirements we required our Training specialists (who were former store managers themselves)to personally handle the training of the management trainess who would go through the crash program.
With the shortened time also we had to do training differently.
We requested that the two best training stores at the time be given to us as venues for training. We converted part of the dining areas of these stores into classrooms where the trainees would undergo lectures on store procedures. After their lectures they would go to the stations and practice what they learned.
To make sure that the trainees themselves were prepared for fast paced learning we made sure to tell them they were going through a special program.
For almost a month, I had no one with me at the office because all my trainers were in the training stores. I visited them occasionally to find out how things were going.
It was physically taxing for my team then because they not only had to teach but also work during operations,coaching the trainees. The trainees too felt overwhelmed by the overload of information they were getting,but they felt challenged, so they gave their best.
Did we succeed after all?
In so far as filling up the new stores with managers, yes, we were able to do that. The "crash trainees" had enough experience to get them through the opening of their stores. But over the long haul, we felt that we failed.
Many of those who joined the crash training resigned within a year. There were survivors but they only did so because of personal tenacity.
We never ventured into crash training the BOTP after that.Things were planned better so that before a new store opened, its managers would have received ample training.
Shortening a training program to its bare essentials and expecting that trainees will be equipped with necessary skills to do the job is really expecting too much of the trainees...and usually ends up as the name suggests, in a "crash."
However, in 1987 I had to agree to launching a "crash training" of our BOTP (Basic Operations Training Program) not only for one, but two, batches of management trainees.
This happened because all of a sudden we had to open three Jollibee stores in two months and there were still no managers ready to run those new stores. Since our regular BOTP ran for one and a half months, we needed to crash the program down to two weeks, after which the trainees would be deployed to their store assignments.
In a crash training situation it is important that the trainers are top caliber instructors and it is also imperative that the trainees' progress is closely monitored. To meet these requirements we required our Training specialists (who were former store managers themselves)to personally handle the training of the management trainess who would go through the crash program.
With the shortened time also we had to do training differently.
We requested that the two best training stores at the time be given to us as venues for training. We converted part of the dining areas of these stores into classrooms where the trainees would undergo lectures on store procedures. After their lectures they would go to the stations and practice what they learned.
To make sure that the trainees themselves were prepared for fast paced learning we made sure to tell them they were going through a special program.
For almost a month, I had no one with me at the office because all my trainers were in the training stores. I visited them occasionally to find out how things were going.
It was physically taxing for my team then because they not only had to teach but also work during operations,coaching the trainees. The trainees too felt overwhelmed by the overload of information they were getting,but they felt challenged, so they gave their best.
Did we succeed after all?
In so far as filling up the new stores with managers, yes, we were able to do that. The "crash trainees" had enough experience to get them through the opening of their stores. But over the long haul, we felt that we failed.
Many of those who joined the crash training resigned within a year. There were survivors but they only did so because of personal tenacity.
We never ventured into crash training the BOTP after that.Things were planned better so that before a new store opened, its managers would have received ample training.
Thursday, July 26, 2007
MY FIRST TASTE OF FRUGALITY AT JOLLIBEE
One of Jollibee's core values is FRUGALITY.
To the filosofos,this would probably give the impression that Jollibee espouses stinginess or being miserly when it comes to money. But in my experience it was really a mindset that the Tans wanted to create in their employees specially when Jollibee was still struggling during its early years.
My first taste of this was when I attended a meeting of the Operations department which was called by then Operations Manager S' Ato. In the two previous companies I worked with, when we had meetings that extended beyond an hour it was customary to provide merienda or snacks to tide us over till lunch. The snacks would usually be sandwiches and coffee or softdrinks.
During that meeting, I got the surprise (or shock) of my life when we were served a pack of Skyflakes each and water! Not even softdrinks!
How was it possible that the leading fastfood chain in the country couldn't even afford a more substantial fare for its key people?
On hindsight I now realize that it was probably because of such spartan-like practices that Jollibee kept itself profitable through its early years.
When Jollibee grew bigger and ascertained its position as undisputed fastfood leader in the country,the ruling on the food we served during merienda and during meals was relaxed a bit.
I experienced this first hand in1991, when I organized and coordinated a Strategic Management seminar for Mancom members and department managers. The session was held at one of the Training rooms of DAP, Pasig, and just across our seminar room was a training program being conducted for a group from San Miguel Corporation.
When I arranged for the food for that seminar I saw to it that we just got the cheaper variety of snacks on the menu. This was in keeping with our culture of being frugal I told myself.
But during that seminar something happened which changed all that.
S' Ato happened to look at the snacks that were being served to the San Miguel participants and he noticed that they had two types of food served to them. Whereas we had only sandwiches and a softdrink, the San Miguel group had sandwiches, pancit and softdrinks.
Compared to theirs, our snacks looked pitiful.
S' Ato got an insight that afternoon. He told me later that for our image as the leader in the industry, it didn't look good that we were eating "cheap"food. So he instructed me to order a more substantial menu for the next day, not only for merienda but even for lunch!
That was a breakthrough, if there ever was one.
From that time on,whenever we served food during training sessions we did not scrimp any more, but we also didn't go overboard. Frugality was still the order of the day...but now it would be observed not at the expense of corporate image.
To the filosofos,this would probably give the impression that Jollibee espouses stinginess or being miserly when it comes to money. But in my experience it was really a mindset that the Tans wanted to create in their employees specially when Jollibee was still struggling during its early years.
My first taste of this was when I attended a meeting of the Operations department which was called by then Operations Manager S' Ato. In the two previous companies I worked with, when we had meetings that extended beyond an hour it was customary to provide merienda or snacks to tide us over till lunch. The snacks would usually be sandwiches and coffee or softdrinks.
During that meeting, I got the surprise (or shock) of my life when we were served a pack of Skyflakes each and water! Not even softdrinks!
How was it possible that the leading fastfood chain in the country couldn't even afford a more substantial fare for its key people?
On hindsight I now realize that it was probably because of such spartan-like practices that Jollibee kept itself profitable through its early years.
When Jollibee grew bigger and ascertained its position as undisputed fastfood leader in the country,the ruling on the food we served during merienda and during meals was relaxed a bit.
I experienced this first hand in1991, when I organized and coordinated a Strategic Management seminar for Mancom members and department managers. The session was held at one of the Training rooms of DAP, Pasig, and just across our seminar room was a training program being conducted for a group from San Miguel Corporation.
When I arranged for the food for that seminar I saw to it that we just got the cheaper variety of snacks on the menu. This was in keeping with our culture of being frugal I told myself.
But during that seminar something happened which changed all that.
S' Ato happened to look at the snacks that were being served to the San Miguel participants and he noticed that they had two types of food served to them. Whereas we had only sandwiches and a softdrink, the San Miguel group had sandwiches, pancit and softdrinks.
Compared to theirs, our snacks looked pitiful.
S' Ato got an insight that afternoon. He told me later that for our image as the leader in the industry, it didn't look good that we were eating "cheap"food. So he instructed me to order a more substantial menu for the next day, not only for merienda but even for lunch!
That was a breakthrough, if there ever was one.
From that time on,whenever we served food during training sessions we did not scrimp any more, but we also didn't go overboard. Frugality was still the order of the day...but now it would be observed not at the expense of corporate image.
Sunday, April 29, 2007
BEATING McDONALD'S at CUSTOMER SERVICE
THE SITUATION
I will always remember 1987,among other things, as the year we started beating McDonald's in customer service.
It all started one morning when my boss, Abelle Carlos, called me into her office for a meeting. She had just met with our then Operations head, S' Ato Tanmantiong,who had shown her the results of surveys made by two independent research groups,Pulse and the PSRC. The studies compared how well Jollibee and McDonald's delivered in the basic areas of Food, Service and Cleanliness. The respondents were loyal customers of Jollibee and McDonald's.
In the areas of Food and Cleanliness, we were perceived to be better if not at par with our U.S. rival. We even had an edge in food because the respondents remarked that McDonald's food was bland.
In the area of Service, however, McDonald's clearly had a distinct advantage. Both Jollibee and McDonald's patrons basically said:"McDonald's service is faster,friendlier and in general, better than Jollibee."
S' Ato wanted instructed Abelle to launch a project that would correct the situation. Due to the urgency of the matter we had only one month to get the project going.
It would have been easy to come up with a solution if our problem with service was merely a training concern. But it wasn't!
As our customers pointed out,what they didn't like with our service were the following:
1. Our customer lines (or queues) were long and slow-moving.
2. It took us a long time to serve their food.
3. Our counter persons didn't look as smart and didn't move as fast as the McDonald's service crews.
4. Our crews were also not as friendly as their McD counterparts.
Analyzing our situation, we realized that we had recruitment issues, operating systems problems and training-related concerns all contributing to our service problem.
The recruitment concern was easily solved when we decided to upgrade the profile of our service crews. In hiring our counter and dining crews we didn't settle for applicants who just wanted a job. We got those who looked smart and pleasant. To attract better candidates, we also made the pay competitive.
The more challenging problems were systemic. Some of the factors that made our lines long and service slow were built into our way of serving our customers. But we didn't realize that until we started observing what the competition was doing.
For example, at Jollibee we still had guard rails which were supposed to keep customers in line. McDonald's didn't have any of these and yet their lines were more organized and were moving faster. Ours tended to be long and slow moving and not always organized.
We learned later on that McDonald's solution was simpler. They trained their cashiers to direct customers where the lines were to be. And since they weren't restricted by guard rails they could create more customer lines as they needed thus speeding up the movement of the queues!
Another example was our practice of validating order slips(which McDonald's didn't have.) Each order slip had to be inserted into a slot at the cash register to be tagged as served. The procedure took about an average of 4 seconds. However, this would take longer if the machine jammed or it was difficult to insert the slip into the slot.
When we reexamined why we were doing this procedure we realized it could be removed without any major consequence. By removing this step we could speed up transactions and keep the lines moving!
Another thing we learned from McDonald's was that their managers actively made things happen. They were managing service. Our managers, on the other hand,tended to just watch the lines build up and not do anything about moving the lines. We found out later on that one reason they did so was they thought the long lines were a SIGN that sales were good! What thye didn't realize was that there were customers who left the store because they couldn't wait in line too long!
OUR SOLUTION:
Working together with our Systems department, we came up with a program which we called Managing Service. This was a two day training program where we taught our managers the new systems and procedures in serving our customers. We started our roll-out by training all our Regional Managers and Area Managers first.
I was always fond of adding drama to our sessions so for our opening I had our mascot Champ come in and punch some "effigies" which represented "Slow Service,""Long Lines,""Unfriendly Service."
The training itself was "packed" with a lot of content and exercises. During those days,pulling managers away from the stores was a luxury we couldn't afford, so we had to cram a lot in the two days.
We taught our managers how to "Break the Line" and "Move the Line. " These were procedures for keeping the customer queues short and moving. Hand in hand with this we emphasized to them that long lines were a bad sign that somehow there would be disgruntled customers who would leave the store if they waited in line too long.
We also introduced the tool called the "Break List." This was a form where the managers plotted when they were supposed to give the counter persons their 15 or 30 minute breaks.
The problem before was that the break schedules were posted on the stores' bulletin board every morning. The first thing that crew members would do was to check their scheduled break before manning their posts. Then when time came for their break the crews would notify their supervisor then just leave their post. The supervisor with really no choice in the matter allowed them to leave even if there were many customers in line.
With the introduction of the "Break List," the crews could not leave their posts unless their supervisor told them so.
To train our managers to pick up the pace we did a simulation where managers had to be able serve customers in line under time pressure. We played fast music and shouted"Hustle!Hustle!" as the role players tried to beat the clock.
As a fitting and symbolic ending to the training program, we had our participants write down on easel sheets their commitments to improve service levels in their respective stores. We then rolled this up to form something like a bat. With this they swatted at effigies that stood for the enemies of Good Service ( Slow service, Long lines etc.),symbolizing their concerted effort to beat our service problems.
THE AFTERMATH
The Managing Service Program was one of the first major system changes we rolled out at Jollibee. For the next three months after July,1987, our store managers trained their crews on the procedures we taught them.
The changes were noticeable even within the first month of the rollout. For one, with the guard rails gone,our lobbies looked a little more spacious. The customer queues started to move faster and one noticed a little more hustle at the counters.
To encourage more speed, the 60 Seconds and 40 Seconds Clubs for cashiers and counter persons were established. Only those counter crews who could handle transactions and serve customers within 40 seconds and 60 seconds made it to this elite group. They were recognized by being given pins and certificates by their store managers.
Of course, we at Jollibee noticed the difference in the way we were serving our customers,but the question was, did our customers notice it too?
The answer came when at the start of 1988, we commissioned Pulse and PSRC to do another comparative survey similar to what they did in 1987.
This time the results were different.
While we still had the edge in food versus our competitor,what was significant this time was that in the area of service we were now perceived to be at par, and sometimes even better than McDonald's.
Though there were still remarks about slow service, it wasn't as glaring as before. Where we fared better than McDonald's was in customer relations. Our crews were perceived to be more respectful ("magalang") than their counterparts. Our move also to allow crews to greet customers in the vernacular ("Magandang umaga/hapon po") also proved to be a big hit with our customers.
We had scored a major victory! We learned from the experience that we could make chainwide changes in our operating systems fast.
The Managing Service rollout made us more confident and strengthened our belief that we could definitely beat our rival!
Thursday, April 12, 2007
JOLLIBEE'S CULTURE OF RESPECT
One of the peculiarities of the Jollibee culture that I noticed when I first joined the company was its strange way of using the title "Sir" or "Ma'am."
Having worked in organizations where I was used to being called by my first name, I felt uneasy being called Sir Ted,not only by people lower than me in rank, but also by my peers and even by my superiors!
Oh yes, even the owners themselves would sometimes refer to me as S' Ted if I was being referrred to in the third person in front of everybody else.
I was curious as to the origin of this practice so I asked "Sir Ato,"our Executive Vice-President and one of the Tan brothers,about it.
He said that in the early days of Jollibee,they started promoting employees from the ranks to supervisory positions as the company grew. They noticed though that these newly promoted supervisors did not seem to get the respect of their former peers.
To get around this problem,the Tans themselves decided to start addressing these new supervisors as "Sirs" or "Ma'ams," even though they were technically their subordinates. When the members of the rank and file noticed the owners setting an example, they somehow felt ashamed about doing otherwise. From that time on the supervisors were given the respect they deserved.
The practice has stuck up to now, and is one of the trademarks of the Jollibee way. It may seem funny or strange for some,but once they realize that it is one way by which the Tans fostered a culture of respect in the organization,then the smirks are immediately replaced by nods of appreciation.
Having worked in organizations where I was used to being called by my first name, I felt uneasy being called Sir Ted,not only by people lower than me in rank, but also by my peers and even by my superiors!
Oh yes, even the owners themselves would sometimes refer to me as S' Ted if I was being referrred to in the third person in front of everybody else.
I was curious as to the origin of this practice so I asked "Sir Ato,"our Executive Vice-President and one of the Tan brothers,about it.
He said that in the early days of Jollibee,they started promoting employees from the ranks to supervisory positions as the company grew. They noticed though that these newly promoted supervisors did not seem to get the respect of their former peers.
To get around this problem,the Tans themselves decided to start addressing these new supervisors as "Sirs" or "Ma'ams," even though they were technically their subordinates. When the members of the rank and file noticed the owners setting an example, they somehow felt ashamed about doing otherwise. From that time on the supervisors were given the respect they deserved.
The practice has stuck up to now, and is one of the trademarks of the Jollibee way. It may seem funny or strange for some,but once they realize that it is one way by which the Tans fostered a culture of respect in the organization,then the smirks are immediately replaced by nods of appreciation.
Tuesday, February 27, 2007
THEY HAD THEIR SLEEVES ROLLED UP!
"They have their sleeves rolled up!"
This was my first impression of the Tans when I was introduced to them during my first week of employment at Jollibee.
Back then when the Jollibee corporate headquarters was at the Culmat building,all new employees were given the tour of the building and introduced to everyone else, including the Tan brothers. This was part of the initiation into the Jollibee family and it really made one feel a sense belongingness to the organization.
It was Mimi Sison, my direct supervisor,who took me through the rounds of the departments and introduced me to Ernesto "Sir Ato" Tanmantiong, who was then the Assistant Operations Manager; William "S' WTU" Tanuntiong,who was head of the Engineering department then, and finally, Mr. Jollibee himself, S' Tony "TTC" Tancaktiong.
When Mimi introduced me to them, I don't remember feeling any sense of nervousness or any bit of awe, since they were all smiling,unassuming and dressed up simply...no signature shirts or ties! And like I said,their sleeves were all rolled up,something you wouldn't see in San Miguel or any of the Ayala Corporate offices.
The reason this detail caught my attention is because, again, I couldn't but help contrast this with my experience at Foodmine (KFC). There, the President and his VPs were all dressed up in signature long - sleeved shirts and tie, or barongs. And there was a certain air of power and authority in the way they carried themselves. Their offices (well at least, the President's and his special assistants') were huge and lavishly decorated. So when you entered their rooms you had a feeling of some fear and awe, because the rooms told you these were the people in power. But the trappings did not appeal to me because I knew the caliber of the people who were running the show. There was a lot of show...but lack of substance.
At Jollibee though,there was no such thing. The rooms of the Tan brothers were bare and one didn't get a feeling of being intimidated by the surroundings when you entered their rooms. You wouldn't even think that you were in the office of one of the owners because these were small!
But it was this seeming lack of pomp...this simplicity... that made working at Jollibee attractive for me. The owners' rolled up sleeves told me that here at Jollibee, everybody,from the President down to the lowliest of employees were going to work hard.
And work hard we did! I was to find out for myself that what Jollibee lacked in terms of "show" it made up for with a lot of substance.
Fact is, a year after I joined the company, in 1986 Jollibee rose to assume the leadership position in the fastfood industry.In 1986, we were number 1...but surprisingly, we didn't feel like it!
It was in the following year that we would proclaim it during our first ever Managers' Convention.
This was my first impression of the Tans when I was introduced to them during my first week of employment at Jollibee.
Back then when the Jollibee corporate headquarters was at the Culmat building,all new employees were given the tour of the building and introduced to everyone else, including the Tan brothers. This was part of the initiation into the Jollibee family and it really made one feel a sense belongingness to the organization.
It was Mimi Sison, my direct supervisor,who took me through the rounds of the departments and introduced me to Ernesto "Sir Ato" Tanmantiong, who was then the Assistant Operations Manager; William "S' WTU" Tanuntiong,who was head of the Engineering department then, and finally, Mr. Jollibee himself, S' Tony "TTC" Tancaktiong.
When Mimi introduced me to them, I don't remember feeling any sense of nervousness or any bit of awe, since they were all smiling,unassuming and dressed up simply...no signature shirts or ties! And like I said,their sleeves were all rolled up,something you wouldn't see in San Miguel or any of the Ayala Corporate offices.
The reason this detail caught my attention is because, again, I couldn't but help contrast this with my experience at Foodmine (KFC). There, the President and his VPs were all dressed up in signature long - sleeved shirts and tie, or barongs. And there was a certain air of power and authority in the way they carried themselves. Their offices (well at least, the President's and his special assistants') were huge and lavishly decorated. So when you entered their rooms you had a feeling of some fear and awe, because the rooms told you these were the people in power. But the trappings did not appeal to me because I knew the caliber of the people who were running the show. There was a lot of show...but lack of substance.
At Jollibee though,there was no such thing. The rooms of the Tan brothers were bare and one didn't get a feeling of being intimidated by the surroundings when you entered their rooms. You wouldn't even think that you were in the office of one of the owners because these were small!
But it was this seeming lack of pomp...this simplicity... that made working at Jollibee attractive for me. The owners' rolled up sleeves told me that here at Jollibee, everybody,from the President down to the lowliest of employees were going to work hard.
And work hard we did! I was to find out for myself that what Jollibee lacked in terms of "show" it made up for with a lot of substance.
Fact is, a year after I joined the company, in 1986 Jollibee rose to assume the leadership position in the fastfood industry.In 1986, we were number 1...but surprisingly, we didn't feel like it!
It was in the following year that we would proclaim it during our first ever Managers' Convention.
Wednesday, January 3, 2007
DOING THINGS RIGHT!
What do Marly Pearl Wee, the CHAMP and Jollibee EDSA Central have in common?
Nothing much really. One was a former cashier in what was once known as Jollibee QUAD. The second is a product of Jollibee. The third is a franchised store. The three were instrumental in convincing me that Jollibee was a well run company and that I wasn’t making a mistake in joining them.
As I mentioned in a previous blog, I had just been promoted as HR Officer of KFC when I learned of the job opening at Jollibee for a Training Specialist. The position was non-supervisory so that meant I was going to report to someone else, unlike at KFC where I was the boss of my department. The pay offer at Jollibee was only slightly higher than what I was getting at KFC, and didn’t include perks like a company car, which I was sure to get by virtue of my being a department head.
It wasn’t an easy decision to make, until I paid a visit to some Jollibee stores and got a further glimpse of what the company was all about.
I was at Makati one day monitoring the new KFC management trainees who were undergoing their crash training when I decided to drop by Jollibee QUAD (now Park Square) for merienda. Marly Wee was at the counter and attended to my order.
At KFC, we had what we called the 7 Key Steps in customer service which was a procedure we had difficulty enforcing because our “mature” cashiers didn’t seem to see any sense in doing the step-by-step process. They didn’t want to smile; their greetings were often insincere and you could sense that they wanted to get over the transactions immediately.
I didn’t know then that Jollibee was also enforcing the 7 Key Steps until I saw Marly do the procedure…as if she had read our KFC operations Manual! Since I had ordered for a Champ,which meant I had to wait a while, Marly told me how long the wait was going to be. Later on she served my order and again did things by the book; thanking me for waiting, asking if I needed anything else and ending with the customary” Thank you. Enjoy your meal!”
I was really impressed.
Marly eventually became a management trainee and I had the chance to handle one of the classes where she was attending. I told the whole class about my chance encounter with Marly (which she could no longer remember.) She was delighted to hear about it though.
Nothing much really. One was a former cashier in what was once known as Jollibee QUAD. The second is a product of Jollibee. The third is a franchised store. The three were instrumental in convincing me that Jollibee was a well run company and that I wasn’t making a mistake in joining them.
As I mentioned in a previous blog, I had just been promoted as HR Officer of KFC when I learned of the job opening at Jollibee for a Training Specialist. The position was non-supervisory so that meant I was going to report to someone else, unlike at KFC where I was the boss of my department. The pay offer at Jollibee was only slightly higher than what I was getting at KFC, and didn’t include perks like a company car, which I was sure to get by virtue of my being a department head.
It wasn’t an easy decision to make, until I paid a visit to some Jollibee stores and got a further glimpse of what the company was all about.
I was at Makati one day monitoring the new KFC management trainees who were undergoing their crash training when I decided to drop by Jollibee QUAD (now Park Square) for merienda. Marly Wee was at the counter and attended to my order.
At KFC, we had what we called the 7 Key Steps in customer service which was a procedure we had difficulty enforcing because our “mature” cashiers didn’t seem to see any sense in doing the step-by-step process. They didn’t want to smile; their greetings were often insincere and you could sense that they wanted to get over the transactions immediately.
I didn’t know then that Jollibee was also enforcing the 7 Key Steps until I saw Marly do the procedure…as if she had read our KFC operations Manual! Since I had ordered for a Champ,which meant I had to wait a while, Marly told me how long the wait was going to be. Later on she served my order and again did things by the book; thanking me for waiting, asking if I needed anything else and ending with the customary” Thank you. Enjoy your meal!”
I was really impressed.
Marly eventually became a management trainee and I had the chance to handle one of the classes where she was attending. I told the whole class about my chance encounter with Marly (which she could no longer remember.) She was delighted to hear about it though.
Friday, December 22, 2006
WHERE THERE'S CHAOS...THERE IS OPPORTUNITY!
"FORTUNA FORTES ADJUVAT!"
"Fortune favors the brave!" Whoever coined that Latin saying centuries ago must have been thinking about Jollibee.
Anyone who knows the QSR business will tell you that one of the keys to success is aggressive store expansion. Opening as many stores as you can not only makes your food accessible to many more customers, it also gets the brand known.
Well and good,that is, if you're confident enough that the business climate is so favorable that every store you open will make a profit.
But what if the business conditions are not so good?
That was the state of things when I first started in the fastfood industry in 1983.
Ninoy Aquino had just been assassinated on August 21. There were rallies everywhere and there were fears that Marcos would have a good excuse to impose martial law once again (although we were still under what was called his "benevolent dictatorship.")
In the face of all this chaos and uncertainty, many businesses took a wait and see attitude. That's what happened to us at KFC.
When I joined KFC, it already had 11 stores. I helped open one store in Dau,Pampanga sometime in December,1983. Then when I left KFC in 1985,we had opened only 2 more outlets (Greenbelt and Katipunan) for a total of 14.
Contrast this with Jollibee.
When I joined the company in 1985, it already had 20 stores. Jollibee was going through the same uncertain business climate as KFC and yet it was expanding aggressively.In fact,it was scheduled to open 4 stores during the second half of 1985. I know because one of my first assignments was to train the managers who would man these new stores.
All other players in the industry seemed to be taking a more cautious and conservative stance.
Jollibee's gamble paid off handsomely. When Marcos was finally overthrown in February,1986 and the business climate turned for the better, guess which brand had the most number of stores!
By the end of 1986, Jollibee was 27 store strong and to top it all,these stores were making good sales. We also ended the year Number one in sales among the QSRs. KFC,which was still beset with labor-management problems had dropped to about number 4 behind McDonald's and Shakey's.
Time and again,during my more than 14 years stint at Jollibee,I was going to witness and be part of this phenomenon of "thriving in chaos" which was to be characteristic of the company.As I will write in future blogs,Jollibee always had a way of turning problems into opportunities for progress.
And I sure am glad I was part of it all!
"Fortune favors the brave!" Whoever coined that Latin saying centuries ago must have been thinking about Jollibee.
Anyone who knows the QSR business will tell you that one of the keys to success is aggressive store expansion. Opening as many stores as you can not only makes your food accessible to many more customers, it also gets the brand known.
Well and good,that is, if you're confident enough that the business climate is so favorable that every store you open will make a profit.
But what if the business conditions are not so good?
That was the state of things when I first started in the fastfood industry in 1983.
Ninoy Aquino had just been assassinated on August 21. There were rallies everywhere and there were fears that Marcos would have a good excuse to impose martial law once again (although we were still under what was called his "benevolent dictatorship.")
In the face of all this chaos and uncertainty, many businesses took a wait and see attitude. That's what happened to us at KFC.
When I joined KFC, it already had 11 stores. I helped open one store in Dau,Pampanga sometime in December,1983. Then when I left KFC in 1985,we had opened only 2 more outlets (Greenbelt and Katipunan) for a total of 14.
Contrast this with Jollibee.
When I joined the company in 1985, it already had 20 stores. Jollibee was going through the same uncertain business climate as KFC and yet it was expanding aggressively.In fact,it was scheduled to open 4 stores during the second half of 1985. I know because one of my first assignments was to train the managers who would man these new stores.
All other players in the industry seemed to be taking a more cautious and conservative stance.
Jollibee's gamble paid off handsomely. When Marcos was finally overthrown in February,1986 and the business climate turned for the better, guess which brand had the most number of stores!
By the end of 1986, Jollibee was 27 store strong and to top it all,these stores were making good sales. We also ended the year Number one in sales among the QSRs. KFC,which was still beset with labor-management problems had dropped to about number 4 behind McDonald's and Shakey's.
Time and again,during my more than 14 years stint at Jollibee,I was going to witness and be part of this phenomenon of "thriving in chaos" which was to be characteristic of the company.As I will write in future blogs,Jollibee always had a way of turning problems into opportunities for progress.
And I sure am glad I was part of it all!
THE BEE DOES NOT BACK DOWN
One of the reasons why Jollibee managed to leave everyone else in its wake is that the owners were never scared of competition. The Jollibee logo might portray a happy,smiling and amiable bee...but what most people didn't know was...this bee knew how to sting.
I heard this story from one of the Tan brothers, Ernesto "S' Ato" Tanmantiong. When news about McDonald's coming into the Philippines started spreading, (I believe this was in 1978,when Jollibee was just 3 years old), their friends advised them not to compete with this international giant.
"Close down," they were told. Or look for another business (perhaps franchise an international brand.) The unsolicited advice was not without any factual basis because McDonald's had built a reputation of always taking over the number one position in every country they had opened.
But the Tans were not fazed. Instead of exiting gracefully,they decided to give McDonald's a fight like they never experienced before.
Since this was supposedly a heavyweight that they were facing,the Tans made sure that Jollibee was fighting in the same weight class as its adversary. They went to the USA to study the competition and learn what they needed to change in Jollibee's operations.
I was told that the brothers would go into a McD's and study the operations as customers. They would pose in front of the counter as if to have their picture taken,but actually they were taking shots of the menu board and whatever could be seen of the kitchen.
When they came back from their "study tour" they started renovating their existing stores and opening new ones according to a store model that was close to the international look they saw in the USA. If I remember right, the store in the old Virra Mall was the first one to sport that new ambience, although it was still basically a semi-waiter service type of operation.
The shift to the new look must have caught McDonald's by surprise.
S' Ato narrates that during one of the grand openings of the "new model" Jollibee stores, he once saw George Yang, the McDonald's franchisee,"paying a visit." He recalls seeing a look of surprise and concern on Mr. Yang's face that time. Perhaps George Yang may have been surprised at how well Jollibee had renewed itself, and realized then that the bee he was supposedly going to squash was, after all, no pushover.
And history has proven that Mr. Yang's gut feel was right!
I heard this story from one of the Tan brothers, Ernesto "S' Ato" Tanmantiong. When news about McDonald's coming into the Philippines started spreading, (I believe this was in 1978,when Jollibee was just 3 years old), their friends advised them not to compete with this international giant.
"Close down," they were told. Or look for another business (perhaps franchise an international brand.) The unsolicited advice was not without any factual basis because McDonald's had built a reputation of always taking over the number one position in every country they had opened.
But the Tans were not fazed. Instead of exiting gracefully,they decided to give McDonald's a fight like they never experienced before.
Since this was supposedly a heavyweight that they were facing,the Tans made sure that Jollibee was fighting in the same weight class as its adversary. They went to the USA to study the competition and learn what they needed to change in Jollibee's operations.
I was told that the brothers would go into a McD's and study the operations as customers. They would pose in front of the counter as if to have their picture taken,but actually they were taking shots of the menu board and whatever could be seen of the kitchen.
When they came back from their "study tour" they started renovating their existing stores and opening new ones according to a store model that was close to the international look they saw in the USA. If I remember right, the store in the old Virra Mall was the first one to sport that new ambience, although it was still basically a semi-waiter service type of operation.
The shift to the new look must have caught McDonald's by surprise.
S' Ato narrates that during one of the grand openings of the "new model" Jollibee stores, he once saw George Yang, the McDonald's franchisee,"paying a visit." He recalls seeing a look of surprise and concern on Mr. Yang's face that time. Perhaps George Yang may have been surprised at how well Jollibee had renewed itself, and realized then that the bee he was supposedly going to squash was, after all, no pushover.
And history has proven that Mr. Yang's gut feel was right!
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