Roseville just became ground zero for a major shift in how Jollibee does business in the United States. The Filipino fast-food chain opened its newest restaurant at 1913 Douglas Blvd. on August 7, and it is not just another location — it is the brand's first franchise-operated store anywhere in California, a state where Jollibee has run every single one of its restaurants itself since arriving in 1998.
That first U.S. restaurant opened in Daly City, and California has since seen Jollibee expand into spots including downtown San Francisco and Alameda, according to MLive. Until now, though, the company kept the keys to every one of those stores in-house. The Roseville opening flips that script, marking what Jollibee itself is calling a landmark moment in its North American growth strategy, as detailed in a release distributed via PR Newswire.
A 24-Store Bet on Northern California, Nevada and Texas
The Roseville restaurant is the first store to open under a 24-unit multi-store development agreement spanning Northern California, Nevada and Texas, led by multi-unit franchise operators Sanjive Datta and Ajay Chopra alongside operating partner Paul Avila, per the PR Newswire release cited by Nation's Restaurant News. The group is not stopping at Roseville — its next planned openings are in Fort Worth, Texas, and elsewhere in the Sacramento area, before settling into a pace of two to three new restaurants annually starting in 2028.
Beth Dela Cruz, president of Jollibee North America, framed the opening as part of the chain's broader push into new communities. “Roseville is an exciting milestone for Jollibee as it continues bringing its dining experience to more communities across the country,” she said, per MLive. Jollibee now operates more than 100 locations across North America, and the Roseville store gives Placer County residents a much closer option than the region's only prior location, at 6021 Mack Road in South Sacramento.
Why Roseville Was an Obvious Target
Roseville is the largest city in Placer County and a commercial anchor for the outer Sacramento metro area, with roughly 156,000 residents, according to Census Reporter estimates from 2024. Asian residents make up 13.1% to 14% of that population, and the city's median household income sits at $119,288 — a demographic and economic profile that makes it an attractive suburban target for a chain built around Filipino comfort food.
That menu, which MLive describes as including fried chicken, spaghetti topped with sliced hot dogs, ground beef and grated cheese, peach mango pie, and burger steaks, has helped the brand build a loyal following well beyond Filipino communities. USA Today readers voted Jollibee the best fast-food fried chicken in America for the third consecutive year in July, a run that started in 2024, according to WATTPoultry.com. That readers'-choice ranking placed the chain ahead of Church's Texas Chicken at No. 2, Chick-fil-A at No. 7, and Raising Cane's at No. 10.
Franchising as the Growth Engine
The Roseville opening is a direct product of a strategic pivot Jollibee made in March 2025, when it launched a U.S. and Canada franchising program aimed at growing its North American footprint from around 100 locations to 350, with franchised units expected to account for most of that growth, per Restaurant Dive. The economics behind that pivot are notable: standalone, free-standing U.S. locations generated an average annual unit volume of $4.99 million in 2025, according to Jollibee's own franchise disclosure data, with some top-performing stores pulling in as much as $9.82 million in annual gross sales.
Those numbers help explain why multi-unit operators like Datta and Chopra are willing to commit to two-dozen-store agreements. They also underscore how Jollibee is positioning itself to go head-to-head with entrenched American fast-food chicken chains rather than simply serving as a niche import. Parent company Jollibee Foods Corporation runs more than 10,700 stores and cafés across 33 countries under a 20-brand portfolio that includes Smashburger, Tim Ho Wan and The Coffee Bean & Tea Leaf, according to the PR Newswire release.
A Brand Chasing Global Top Five
The Roseville debut arrives amid a stretch of high-profile recognition for the brand. Brand evaluation consultancy Brand Finance ranked Jollibee the 18th most valuable restaurant brand in the world in February, part of an executive push to crack the global top five, according to reporting from TIME. In May, TIME named Jollibee Group to its TIME100 Most Influential Companies list and placed it among the top 10 food and beverage industry leaders on its inaugural sector shortlist.
Jollibee has also flagged Florida, New York and the Northeast as priority growth markets, per MLive, even as this particular expansion push runs through Northern California, Nevada and Texas. The chain's franchise-driven growth has already touched other markets Hoodline has followed, including a 15-store San Antonio push and a crowded Bronx debut this summer. Whether the Datta-Chopra-Avila group can keep pace with its own Fort Worth and Sacramento-area targets while Jollibee simultaneously runs its remaining company-owned stores may be the clearest test yet of how smoothly the chain's hybrid franchise model actually works.
