Is Jollibee coming to Winnipeg? Rumour has Filipino community buzzing

The 'McDonald'sof thePhilippines'may have its sights set on Winnipegfor expansion into the Canadian market, buteven the thought of it hasthe local Filipino community excited.

Ron Cantiveros, the publisher of Winnipeg's Filipino Journal posted aphoto onInstagramwelcoming thecompany to Winnipeg and the company's social mediaaccount replied: "See you soon."

Is Jollibee coming to Winnipeg? Rumour has Filipino community buzzing

8 years ago

Duration 1:48

The 'McDonald's of the Philippines' may have its sights set on Winnipeg for expansion into the Canadian market, but even the thought of it has the local Filipino community excited.

Cantiveros, who grew up in Winnipeg, but has travelled to thePhilippinesmany times, saysJollibee has always been considered the McDonald's of the Philippines andthat a stop atthe fast food joint is one of the first things to do for many Filipino peoplevisitinghome.

He also saysthe local Filipino community has grown to almost 70,000 people and that having a taste of home here, would mean a lot.

"Some of them might be homesick. Some of them might not have family and if they know that Jollibee is coming, there is that sense of home that they can look forward to," said Cantiveros.

Cantiveros isn't alone. Roddy Seradilla, who owns the Pimp My Rice food truck and the Filipino restaurant Bisita on Corydon says the fast food chain is a part of Filipino culture.

"Jollibee coming to Winnipeg would be so great because I know for my parents and aunts and uncles, [and other] immigrants to Winnipeg, it would definitely be another part of home that's now coming to Winnipeg," said Seradilla.

Seradilla recalls the first time ordering a 'Chickenjoy' meal and beingpleasantly surprised when he got a side of rice and instead of standard frenchfries.

"The whole idea that we do have a restaurant that we can call our own. And it was very exclusive to thePhilippinesfor the longest time," said Seradilla.

While there is yet to be an official announcement from Jollibee, the company'sCFO said in an interview last March that they couldsoon be opening its first Canadian location andthey hopedto be in Canada within the year.

The Philippine online news site, the Standard,later reported last year, that the company was having issues finding ideallocations for expansion and was postponing expansion to Canada until 2017.

With thousands of stores around the world and a largeFilipino population here in Winnipeg, it might just be a matter of time before a newly constructedstorefront in Winnipeg is a Jollibee, and for the many fans here it couldn't be soon enough.

"They could open up a Jollibee in Brandon and there would still be lineups for months," said Cantiveros.