Jollibee Foods Corporation (JFC) said Thursday it is not prioritizing establishing Jollibee branches in Japan but is focusing on expanding in the United States and China.

In an online press conference, Jollibee Chief Financial Officer Richard Shin said they are not yet planning to set up branches in Japan due to the lack of resources and its declining population.

“ We don't have an infrastructure in Japan. We don't have commissaries. We don't have history or brands there. So to get into Japan, we will have to start setting a lot of stuff up, including strategic partnerships and so forth,” Shin told reporters.

“Secondly, if you look at population, demographics, propensity…there are other markets that will have a better return on investment for shareholders and that's why we're driving hard the US and China. Japan also has a declining or an aging, is another way of looking at it, population base..and birth rate is incredibly low. So in our business, again we have to prefer to look at macros. We look at population as a key macro, then we look at the sub-segments of that population. So by all measures, it is not a priority market,” he added

Shin said they would discuss with their partners if they decide to open a Jollibee franchise in Japan.

“Japan is not a market yet where we have a lot of presence. So in fact we're very limited. Having said that, we're very close with the Yoshinoya group in Japan because we’re the franchisees of Yoshinoya in the Philippines. So, we have three brands that we’re franchisees of, that's Burger King, Yoshinoya, and Panda Express. So should we decide strategically that Japan takes priority above the US, the Philippines, or China, then we can really tap into our two partners that we have there, both listed companies,” he said.

The Jollibee Group owns 18 brands, including Jollibee, Greenwich, Coffee Bean, and Tea Leaf; Chowking, Smash Burger, and Highlands Coffee among others. Jaspearl Tan/DMS