Philippine fast-food giant Jollibee International is opening at least 15 more outlets in Singapore in the next five years, with an incursion into Indonesia in 2019.

Jollibee president and head of international business Dennis Flores says the Manila-based company will open its sixth store in Singapore in Jurong East in April. It joins the line-up of two stores at Lucky Plaza and one each in Changi, Novena and Paya Lebar.

“We’ve gone to another level – half our customers now are Singaporeans, not just Filipinos,” says Flores. Jollibee opened its first store at Lucky Plaza in March 2013. While Filipinos formed queues, few Singaporeans went there – “only brave souls”.

A second outlet at the mall’s basement drew more local diners, and Jollibee has since picked locations more accessible to Singaporeans. “The patronage of Singaporeans is really giving us a lot of encouragement…Our ability to connect with the Singaporean palate gives us a lot of excitement and encouragement that we can fulfil our goal to open 15 more stores,” says Flores.

Meanwhile, the company aims to enter the 260-million-strong Indonesian market in 2019. “It’s a market we can’t ignore. It’s a chicken market – the big players are all ‘chicken players’.”

Jollibee is hoping to open 150 stores in Indonesia in 10 years.