Technology
Jollibee opens 1st cloud kitchen
June 18, 2020
Fast-food chain Jollibee will open its first cloud kitchen in metro Chicago Thursday inside a Kitchen United outpost in River North on North Sedgwick Street, according to a company press release.
The fully equipped kitchen is focused exclusively on fulfilling delivery and pick-up orders, using a new format designed to reach consumers in high-density metro areas quickly and efficiently. Jollibee first announced the launch of its nationwide delivery service in the U.S. via DoorDash in April of this year. The new centrally located store adds to the brand's existing Chicago-area locations in Skokie and on Elston Avenue and expands accessibility to major metro Chicago neighborhoods, including River North, Lincoln Park, The Loop and Chinatown.
"We are very excited for the milestone launch of Jollibee's first-ever cloud kitchen in a prime Chicago location," Maribeth Dela Cruz, president of Jollibee Foods Corporation North America, Philippine Brands, in the news release. "Thanks to the unique cloud kitchen format of this new location, we are able to adapt to the current difficult environment of the pandemic, while still growing our delivery capability and our off-premise business in a key market."
The brand is promoting the new kitchen with free delivery for orders of $15 and above and a free Jollibee collectible for orders of $30 or more during the store's first month of operation that begins today. The brand will also give away 50 free Family Meals to Chicagoans during the store's first week of operation through a social media giveaway.
The brand will also be extending its "Notes of Joy" initiative to a string of local hospitals to coincide with the opening. Fans can write words of encouragement and thanks, or "Notes of Joy," for health-care heroes who have been fighting on the frontlines of COVID-19 on Jollibee USA's Facebook or Instagram page. Jollibee will then deliver the personalized notes along with free meals to the metro-Chicago-based hospitals in July.
Jollibee, the largest fast-food chain brand in the Philippines with more than 1,400 stores, has more than 240 international branches including in the United States, where it now has 54 stores.
