Philippine's Largest Fast-Food Chain Jollibee Plans Suburban Chicago Spot

The long-rumored Chicago-area location for Jollibee, the largest fast-food chain in the Philippines, is heading to suburban Skokie.

The restaurant, on the 3500 block of Touhy Avenue, would be Jollibee's first restaurant in Illinois. Ownership targeted Chicago for its expansion plans in 2013. No opening date was provided for the 42,000 square-foot space at the Touhy Marketplace shopping strip.

The Tribune reported that the restaurant continues to progress through the village of Skokie's planing process.

When a Houston location opened in 2013, as Jollibee Chicken & Burgers, it earned a spot on Eater Houston's October 2013 Heatmap, with long lines of customers curious about the menu. The restaurant features a signature spaghetti, "laced with hot dog slices and rough-textured sausage cubes along with pinpoints of ground meat, plus a gilding of orange cheese on top," according to the Houston Chronicle.

Jollibee, which uses a bee as a mascot, has a history that dates back to 1975 as an ice cream shop. They operate more than 2,000 locations and around 80 restaurants outside of the Philippines. That includes 26 in America.

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