Filipino American Food: Flourishing Food Options

The Filipino chain restaurants took note of the diaspora and followed. Goldilocks opened its first U.S.-based restaurant in 1976. Max’s followed in 1982, Red Ribbon in 1984, and Jollibee in 1998. Today Goldilocks boasts twenty-three outlets; Max’s, eight; Red Ribbon, thirty-nine; and Jollibee, twenty-six. Most of these are in California; others can be found in Hawaii, Las Vegas, Washington, New York, New Jersey, Virginia, and Arizona. Local mom-and-pops serving cafeteria-style food are even more plentiful. In 1989, Seafood City, a supermarket aimed specifically at Filipinos and stocked with both local and imported products, opened in San Diego. By 2011, it had expanded to twenty stores. All of these are well positioned in Filipino neighborhoods and act as hubs, anchoring restaurants, stores, travel agencies, shipping services, even immigration offices to serve their consumer niche.