Jollibee opened its first fast-food restaurant in London on Sunday, drawing queues of expat Filipinos who braved the autumn chill overnight to be among the first locally to savour Chicken Joy and burgers.

According to mainstream news media, “thousands” of Filipinos visited the Jollibee London restaurant, located in Earl’s Court.

Ernesto Tanmantiong, CEO of Jollibee Foods, said at a press briefing on the site that the crowds at the London store demonstrated the depth of customer loyalty to the brand which was helping the company reach its ambition of expanding all over the globe. He wants Jollibee to one day become the world’s largest fast-food operator.

“Today, we are at number 11 or 12, depending on [our] stock price. To achieve that dream, we will require an aggressive expansion coming from strong organic growth and strategic acquisitions.”

Jollibee plans to open 50 stores across Europe during the next five years, with Spain and Italy the priority markets after the UK, where it would target large cities.

“We believe we can be successful in the UK because of two factors,” added Dennis Flores, head of international business in Europe, Middle East, Asia and Australia. “We know our flagship product is Chicken Joy and the UK is the largest fried chicken [market] in Europe.”