Highlands Coffee nears 1,000 stores, posts over $41mn profit as IPO plans advance

Financial results released by the Philippine fast-food giant Jollibee Foods Corporation (JFC), which holds a 60-percent stake in Highlands’ parent company SuperFoods Group, showed that the coffee chain’s earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortization (EBITDA) reached approximately 2.48 billion pesos ($41.5 million) in 2025, a six-percent increase from the previous year.

This marked the third consecutive year of profit growth since JFC began reporting Highlands’ performance separately in 2023.

The chain’s EBITDA previously grew 4.5 percent in 2024 and 5.7 percent in 2025, reflecting steady expansion in Vietnam’s coffee retail market.

Highlands Coffee continued to scale up its operations in 2025, opening 134 new outlets to reach 985 stores by year-end.

Of these, 38 are in the Philippines, while the rest operate in Vietnam.

Highlands owns 851 stores directly, with 96 franchised locations.

When JFC first invested in 2012, Highlands had only 56 stores.

Highlands Coffee has become a key driver of JFC’s international growth.

Overseas revenue for JFC rose 27 percent in 2025, with Highlands contributing a 16-percent increase in sales.

Vietnam is now JFC’s largest foreign market by store count, with overall JFC operations in the country posting a 40-percent rise in systemwide sales and a 24-percent increase in same-store sales last year.

Despite Highlands’ strong performance, its earnings remain a fraction of JFC’s global portfolio.

JFC reported 41.9 billion pesos ($701 million) in EBITDA in 2025, driven by brands such as Jollibee, Tim Ho Wan, and Milksha.

JFC executives described Highlands Coffee as one of their most successful acquisitions, noting its potential to reach a billion-dollar valuation.

The chain now serves more than 100 million customers annually.

Highlands Coffee’s board is targeting an IPO in the first quarter of 2027.

Bloomberg previously reported the company could seek to raise as much as $400 million.

Listing in Vietnam would give Highlands access to a growing capital market, where individual securities accounts are projected to reach 11 million by 2030.

Founded in 1999 by entrepreneur David Thai (Thai Phi Diep), Highlands Coffee began with packaged roasted coffee before opening its first café in Ho Chi Minh City in 2002.