Jollibee — the Filipino fast food chain best known for Chickenjoy fried chicken, Yumburger hamburgers and its eponymous anthropomorphic bee mascot — opens Thursday in a so-called cloud kitchen in the River North area of Chicago.
Cloud kitchens, also known as ghost kitchens and formerly known as shared kitchens, are homes to food businesses that offer only takeout or delivery. The new Jollibee is located inside Kitchen United, a California-based company that’s home to 16 independent restaurants at the Chicago location.
When the first Jollibee in the area opened in July 2016, thousands of people waited for hours in north suburban Skokie. Jollibee Foods Corporation, one of the biggest Asian restaurant companies in the world, owns the fast food chain with more than 1,400 stores in the Philippines and 240 international branches. The first location in the city followed that December at Seafood City, the Filipino supermarket chain megastore in the Mayfair neighborhood.
By the way, Seafood City just launched online ordering for pickup and delivery, the first of the massive Chicago area international markets to offer online shopping.
The new Jollibee location will offer a limited fan-favorites menu, which definitely includes Jolly Spaghetti with its sweet meat sauce studded with hot dog chunks, for pickup or delivery through DoorDash.
I say no visit to Jollibee is complete without the Palabok Fiesta, the Filipino pancit rice noodle dish smothered in garlic sauce and crushed chicharron then garnished with pink shrimp and sliced egg; plus peach mango hand pies, made with covetously sweet Philippine mangoes; and halo-halo, the colorful cold dessert concoction, which is sadly not available from the cloud kitchen location.
To celebrate the opening, Jollibee is offering a few social media freebies, as well as a collectible toy for orders of $30 or more during the first month.
Jollibee (inside Kitchen United), 831 N. Sedgwick St., order.kitchenunited.com/chicago/menu/jollibee
