Cultivating and strengthening the food safety culture is vital for the Jollibee Group. As part of the continuing education and training for its workforce, all restaurant personnel undergo food safety training to ensure that the company’s high standards for safety and quality are maintained. The company also recognizes food safety champions and certifies quality advocates across different levels in the organization.

MANILA, Philippines. October 19, 2021 – The Jollibee Group is strengthening its food safety culture even further to ensure that food safety practices and measures in all the stores of its different restaurants in the Philippines—Jollibee, Chowking, Mang Inasal, Greenwich, Burger King, Red Ribbon, Panda Express, and PHO24—are sustained and continuously improved on to meet global standards consistently.

During the height of the pandemic, the Jollibee Group immediately rolled out its Food Safety Standards and Control Measures for COVID-19 Pandemic across all its stores nationwide to implement new safety standards and help employees safely adapt to the new normal.

“Our product standards are aligned with global standards even prior to the pandemic. To elevate quality further, we instituted additional measures to ensure safety in food preparation, as well as safety protocols to help protect the health of store teams and customers,” said Jollibee Group’s Head of Global Quality Management Wally Mateo.

Digitizing food safety initiatives
“We have also linked our supply chain processes to a centralized digital data management system to help us in data analysis and store monitoring anytime we need it. It’s an end-to-end food safety model from our suppliers to our commissaries, and even up to the store levels,” Mateo added.

“Digitization is playing a huge part not only in improving the customer experience with our brands during this pandemic, but also in our supply chain operations—way before our meals reach our customers,” said Mateo.

One such initiative in response to the pandemic is the Supply Chain Food Safety and Quality Agile Audit System, which allows Jollibee Group’s Quality Management team to continuously assess risk factors and ensure compliance of vendors, commissaries, and stores despite limited mobility caused by lockdown restrictions.

Risk-based approaches
The Jollibee Group proactively evaluates and monitors emerging food safety and quality risks and keeps itself updated on the trends. As a response to these identified risks and trends, the company designs food safety and quality programs that are observed from farm to fork—from product design and development, sourcing, manufacturing, warehousing, distribution, up to restaurant processes.

These programs are on top of internationally recognized risk-based systems such as Good Manufacturing Practices (GMP); Good Agricultural Practices (GAP) for its plant farm sources; Good Animal Husbandry Practices (GAHP) for poultry, meat and egg sources; Hazards Analysis and Critical Control Points (HACCP); Food Defense; and Food Fraud. The same standards are also required from the company’s suppliers, commissaries, warehouses, depots, and distribution centers.

Strengthening the Food Safety Culture
To strengthen the culture of food safety across the organization, the Jollibee Group provides continuing education and training for its workforce. All restaurant personnel from the company are required to undergo food safety trainings. Jollibee Group has also trained more than 700 food quality champions and quality advocates across different levels in the organization through its internal certification program.

Best practices by teams and individuals are also recognized by the company. During the Jollibee Group’s recent celebration of World Food Safety Day, individuals who went beyond expectations to significantly impact food safety practices during the pandemic were recognized as Food Safety Heroes.

“Food safety is everyone’s responsibility in the Jollibee Group. Our standards for food safety and cleanliness are well-ingrained in our employees and are integrated in our operations,” Mateo added. “This is an ongoing commitment by the Jollibee Group to deepen the trust of customers in our products and in our brands.”