Jollibee scales coffee expansion as Compose Coffee gains traction in Taiwan

Early sales momentum, K-pop influence, and a scalable store model shape the group’s global coffee strategy ahead of Philippine entry.

Jollibee is starting to see how far its coffee strategy can go, and early numbers from Taiwan suggest it has room to travel.

Compose Coffee, its South Korea-based chain, generated around NT$70,000 in first-day sales, roughly ₱120,000, during the pre-opening of its first store. Demand held steady throughout the day, with customers lining up as early as morning and wait times stretching during peak hours, pointing to strong initial interest in a new market.

At its core, the brand leans on a straightforward formula: competitive pricing, larger servings, and drinks that feel familiar but slightly differentiated. In Taiwan, items like iced Americano, dalgona latte, and the red bean injeolmi milkshake quickly stood out. Brand visibility tied to BTS member V, alongside the group’s broader K-pop momentum, also helped draw first-time customers and build early buzz.

The scalable K-coffee formula

The appeal also reflects how Compose Coffee positions itself in its home market. In South Korea, it has built a large footprint of around 3,000 stores, supported by a model that prioritizes speed, accessibility, and consistency over complex store formats. That operational simplicity is a key part of why the brand is being positioned as a scalable platform within the Jollibee Group’s international portfolio.

These elements are built for replication. The store model is designed for efficiency, allowing the brand to enter new markets without significantly changing its core offer while maintaining volume-driven economics.

Aside from retail stores, Jollibee is also exploring steady revenue streams tied to the brand. Compose Coffee’s pour-over products are now supplied to all rooms of Hotel 101 Madrid, a roughly 500-room property, creating a consistent base of daily consumption alongside its storefront business and adding an institutional channel to its expansion strategy.

The Philippines is next in line for a launch this year, placing Compose Coffee into a café market that is both crowded and price-sensitive, where differentiation often comes down to pricing, serving size, and speed of service. Taiwan’s early performance offers a clearer sense of how the brand’s positioning may hold up once it enters a similarly competitive environment closer to home.

Together, the early rollout signals how Jollibee is approaching coffee not as a standalone experiment, but as a repeatable business line designed to scale across markets with minimal reinvention.