Meet the Singaporean faces at Jollibee

Majority of employees are most definitely born and bred Singaporeans.

It has been a spectacular opening for the newest kid on the quick service restaurant block, Jollibee, which opened its first Singapore outlet in Lucky Plaza.

Yet in spite of the commercial success of the venture, the opening was marred by some cyber bloggers who called on Singaporeans to boycott Jollibee on the basis that they were only interested in hiring Filipinos.

The online backlash came as a surprise to Jollibee, said its senior PR manager Ms Arline Adeva who is in Singapore overseeing a media event days after the grand opening.

“We have 92 international outlets in countries from the USA to Vietnam, but we have never encountered such a situation before wherein we were falsely accused of unfair hiring practices. We were quite taken aback when this ‘issue’ came up online as honestly, our team was just really looking forward to introducing Jollibee food to Singaporeans and letting them enjoy the same happy dining experience of Filipinos for more than three decades now,” she said.

“Before the opening, we even hired a local consultant to make sure we comply with all the local employment guidelines here in Singapore. We have been issued with a Certification of Fair Employment Practices by TAFEP (or the Tripartite Alliance for Fair Employment Practices that was established by the Ministry of Manpower) as proof that we are a company that gives equal employment opportunities.”

The online reaction against Jollibee was greeted in the company’s Manila headquarters with a mix of “shock and bemusement” – after all, who could hold a grudge and want to boycott a Bee, and a Jolly one at that.

Jollibee now has 83 staff of whom the majority are Singaporean citizens.

They invited Singapore Business Review down to meet some of the staff and show that Jollibee is here as a good local employer.

Here are just some of the Singaporeans that will make your Jollibee experience a truly Jolly one.

(click the images to zoom)