Jollibee Allegedly Going to Close 255 Stores After Losing S$336 Million Due to COVID-19

The ongoing epidemic might have taken a toll on everyone’s health, but its effects lie beyond the numerous quarantine facilities forcibly set up amid the outbreak:

Covid-19 has also proven to be a real recession-maker, on more counts than one.

Over the past few months, multiple businesses have seen their stocks and revenue fall due to the Covid-19 outbreak And some have certainly been big names in their respective industries too. Which makes for a worrying case because it shows just how potent the Covid-19 can be, physically or financially.

And now, months into the epidemic, it seems that another high-profile figure has been hit hard by the recession. But here’s the thing;

In all honesty, nobody is likely to have expected this particular one.

Jollibee Allegedly Going to Close 255 Stores After Losing S$336 Million Due to COVID-19

According to reports, Jollibee Foods Corporation has reportedly suffered a net loss of 12 billion Phillipine pesos (S$336 million) in the first half of 2020.

Apparently, they will be closing 255 stores worldwide.

No designated locations have been stated.

Reader Bao: So are Singapore outlets affected?

Read the line before your question.

In the second quarter of 2020, the fast-food giant was forced to shut down half of its outlets temporarily, which amounted to close to 3,000 stores worldwide. As you’d probably know, Singapore outlets weren’t affected since our “lockdown” allows F&B outlets to remain open, albeit only for takeaway and delivery.

This translated to a 48.4% decrease in sales, or 30.7 billion Philippine pesos (S$859 million).

And despite reopening 88%of its stores by the end of the second quarter, sales revenue continued to fall, owing to a lack of dine-in customers.

According to Inquirer, Jollibee earned a profit of around 2.5 billion Philippine pesos (S$70 million) around this time last year.

But Rest Assured, Because They’re Far From Giving Up

Notwithstanding such a major setback, Jollibee has set its sights on a full business recovery, with certain brand transformations set to happen.

They will reportedly concentrate on rebuilding their business, with the incorporation of “major cost improvement” under their business transformation programme.

The programme will allegedly cost around 7 billion Philippine pesos (S$196 million), and constitutes a significant part of the company’s net loss of 10.2 billion Philippines pesos (S$285 million).

The transformation also includes the closure of 255 company-owned stores, as well as a reduction in organisation size in specific countries.

Reader Bao: So are Singapore outlets-

Despite everything, Jollibee remains positive and estimates a growth rate of 15% by 2022.

In June 2020, F&B outlets in Singapore saw a 43.5% decrease in revenue compared to June 2019. The drop was 50.1% between May 2020 and May 2019. So to Reader Bao’s question: just pray can liao.