MANILA - Jollibee Foods Corp on Friday said it is offering a new concept called Mix n Match to provide consumers with the best value-for-money option.

During the company's media roundtable discussion, JFC Chief Financial Officer Richard Shin said the company aims to give consumers cheaper alternatives by pairing mains and sides for a lower value compared to buying them separately.

“For us, it really is always about the taste. Pricing--it is very important. We try to provide the best options in terms of value. Even though there’s margin impact of that, we think this is what consumer needs at the moment and it rewards us with volume increase,” Shin said. 

In a separate statement, DoubleDragon Corp said the first Jollibee Group multi-brand store opened in CityMall-Calamba with Jollibee, Mang Inasal, Greenwich, and Chowking combined in a single kitchen.

With the concept, those who want to order Jollibee, Mang Inasal, Greenwich and Chowking can do so in the same store without the need to pay for each brand separately.

"DoubleDragon expects this new and innovative Multi-Brand format of the Jollibee Group to complement and blend well with the provincial community center concept of CityMall, and we are looking forward to soon seeing this new innovative format eventually in all the CityMalls in Luzon, Visayas and Mindanao," said DoubleDragon Chairman Edgar Injap Sia II. (Statement only)

Q1 PERFORMANCE

In the first quarter, JFC said its net income hit P4.1 billion up 13.7 percent. Systemwide sales grew 10 percent to P86.8 billion for the period. Domestic sales still make up 60 percent of JFC’s revenue but international businesses are keeping up at 40 percent.

JFC said its business performance in China declined in the first quarter due to an overall "softer" market.

“We can see that same-store sales growth declined. It’s not necessarily about business issue or performance, but overall the market is softer. Recognizing that, what we’re doing is being careful with capital investments,” Shin said.

But despite that Shin said JFC plans to bring more brands to China despite a “bumpy” market environment.

“We’re still slowly expanding in China. The reason why we need to expand is we do not have all our brands represented. We recognize for the short term it’s gonna be bumpy… China has been a challenge for most businesses and we’re not excluded from that,” Shin said.

JFC operates 6,885 stores globally.