Jollibee’s Tony Tan and Jesus’ Plodders: On Taking the Lead

By Glenn Plastina

“Jollibee’s success is a Filipino success,” and so it says.

First, it was Jackie Chan. Second was John Woo. And third, was a Filipino. It was like a hero’s journey. CCATV 3 Hong Kong featured Tony Tan in their Crossings program 17 August 2006. It made a deep impact on me. Tough I like Chan and Woo—and these three shared common stock as Chino—I begun to admire Tony the most as a leading entrepreneur and Filipino. As I follow through the whole segment of this summer episode, I can’t help, but take a serious reflection on theologizing the venture of Jollibee in correlation with Christian ministry—especially on Tony’s unrealized potential contribution to Filipino pastoral leadership.

Tony Tan is the key person who gave birth and robust growth to the Jollibee empire. He made this Filipino venture distinct and globally competitive. It is quite clear that spirituality has an ingrained role in this endeavor—somewhat like a Folk Christianity, a mixture of Catholicism and Chinese belief. This is seen in the documentary’s portrayal of the “blessing” rites of Jollibee new establishments and their ancestral reverence. Through out the documentary segment, some core elements contributing to the enormous successes of Tony and Jollibee were identifiable. The intactness of these values led me to reflect and correlate through the following points.

VISION. Jollibee, like any other business, started small, says Tony’s wife Gina. But just like a small “mustard seed,” it can potentially grow to a big and strong tree as Jesus used to say. The dynamic element—in fact the very core idea of the whole Jollibee thing, from first to last, I believe—is Tony’s vision: to be one of the biggest fast-food chain in the nation (Eventually, the vision was refined and expanded towards a global company). Tony himself felt it was quite naïve at first, but his “dream” was slowly taking place as he took time and specific steps to make his vision come true. His vision kept him focused; he refused Pepsi’s job offer because he wanted to take the lead. He dreamt of running a business. Anything that will hinder him from fulfilling his vision was easily turned down. Without a doubt, his vision and visioneering are essential to his effectivity and success in the venture. Near to the end of the documentary, it was emphatic: vision brought them where they are now.

Jesus’ vision of the future was impeccable. He was not only concerned about the “already present” in his ministry, but also of the “not yet” future, as he emphasized in his core message of the Kingdom of God. For him—and this is applicable to his contemporary postmodern or Filipino leaders—having a vision of the future is non-negotiable. Without vision, leaders and people alike are lost, wandering without direction, plodding without destiny; somewhat like “bahala na” or come what may. For Jesus, the future vision is intentional, focused, directive, and powerful. Anything that does not align to that future must be overcome--even discarded. Without kingdom vision, his servants will easily go astray, heading nowhere in their ministry. Today, we need to ask: How many leaders have clear and defined visions? Are we up for just maintenance and not taking the lead?

PEOPLE-ORIENTED. Tony is not a lone ranger, hermetic sage, confining what he knows just for himself. In his vision, he saw that he also need his family to venture with him—including his wife, children, and relatives. This one big family has to think and work hand in hand to make the vision a reality. Nonetheless, they also have some sort of ownership to the endeavor. Tony has the vision, and major family-players shared it also. They not only value their family, but also the people around them. They “listened” and gave the people what they deserve. They also wanted to pass the value of caring for other people through some of their programs where children are taught the value of giving and caring for the less fortunate. (Although the family learned the value of hard work while they were children, in this business, they need more than hard labor; they have to be smart.) They cater to the need of the masses, not just for the elite and for the few.

No doubt Tony thinks a lot before he does—and he does it with people in mind. Jesus’ valuation of the people cannot be underestimated. He came to seek people. While many programs, systems, and establishments are people-related, his was more than just a matter of consumerism or social activism. His was about people knowing and loving the Creator and loving people. Where Christian fundamentalism alienates people from God and his community, this poor people-skills and relationship building creates a rigid monologue culture. There’s little place for dialogue and interaction--or loving relationships. What matters most is legalism. Only the elite have the right to say. So whatever happened to the greatest command to love people? Replaced by dogmatic convictions of dysfunctional interpreter and preachers of separation and hatred? Whatever happened to the loving God’s preachers? Who will take the lead in building bridges?

KNOWLEDGE. Tony’s knowledge of his craft grew out from experience and knowledge development. He learned by participation, involvement, doing, and acting. His was not an armchair knowledge. He studied other businesses and learned from them—most importantly, excels in whatever he learned. He insisted to know the why’s, what’s, where’s, when’s, and how’s of his chosen life-path. He knew what people wanted by listening to them; he responded. He also consulted others who advised him to “think like the big boys.” Mith Lanning helped him a lot to identify the weakness, make strategic plans in their meetings, and serve well. Jollibees’ Research and Development area is also responsible in formulating scientific recipes that will give them an edge in their business. Tony knew his market. This time, no more guessing!

Knowledge, indeed, is power. While many Christian were dabbling into “Experience vs. Education” debate, it is evident that Jesus valued both knowledge and experience; they are not to be dichotomized. While the idolatry of academic acumen lies in constant around the corner, our knowledge of this God we serve is utterly important. It is because our knowledge of God will constantly reflect in the why and how we do ministry—even in doing theology. Christian ministers ought to know how their people think and what they truly need. The same is true with the unbelieving mentality, so that our ministry can make a difference in their lives. But it seems that busyness is a hindrance to deep reflections. When plodding diminishes our ability to point out the essentials, turning to the basics of knowing God and his people is worth taking. Jesus himself said, “I know my sheep.”

SUSTAINING. Jollibee’s venture is not an easy task. They have to face squarely several challenges. Competition with other foreign mega-business establishments like KFC, A&W, McDonalds, and the like, placed a huge pressure to keep their vision, business, and investments going big. They have to face vicious rumors that tried to discredit them, like the controversial “hamburgers from worms.” Nevertheless, they overcame such blows and it made their endeavor a lot stronger. To sustain and ensure growth, they did a lot of training and risk-taking by seeking advice from outsiders (like Paul Rosenberg). They diversified their portfolio to cater to the varied taste of the customers. They trained their personnel, mascots, and everyone involved in the business making them competent in their specific roles and tasks. Their training was "no nonsense" to serve well. Was it rewarding? How’s this? The world of business elite Ernst & Young 2004 Award was officially given to Tony—and of course in behalf of all his team.

“Well done thou good and faithful servant,” echoes from the future. Though spoken by Christ more than two thousand years ago, this call to be faithful and fruitful is worth pondering. Plodding for the sake of plodding ain’t working out. Jesus, in his teaching and parables, used the world of business, agriculture, nature, athletics, and the mundane examples to teach divine truths. The methods change, but the message was kept in tact. If we look at it today, yesterday’s approaches may not work well now; some were obsolete, irrelevant, and ineffective. (Barrenness is not the same with faithfulness by the way.) We are called to be faithful to the One who called us, not to the things introduced to us (like methods and approach). Keeping on until the end requires dynamic risk-taking and changes, because only dead people don't change! And only dead trees do not bear fruits!

CONTEXTUALIZATION. No, I haven’t heard this very word from that Crossings documentary. But the concept was there. Here’s how. Jollibee, although it definitely has a Western taste, Tony adds Filipino flavor. Hamburgers, hotdogs, ice creams, etc, were Western influences. They were not originated in the Philippines. These products were introduced to the Philippines by Western colonialists. But Tony did not swallow it as is. The ice cream franchising business in 1970s made a decisive point of change. As they listened to their customers, they tried the distinct YAM Burger (experimented by Tony’s sister, Virgie) to fit to the Filipino’s taste. The same adding of Filipino flavor in almost all of their products was made. This is to fit with the context! But this fitting in the context made Jollibee delicacies distinctly Filipino around the world (No wonder my wife and kids really like Jollibee when we are far away from the Philippines).

So what’s the point to the plodders? We have to admit that the evangelical faith we received is highly Western. Its rationalization and rudiments were evidently Western. Just look at the services and sermon styles, the bureaucratic systems and theological books. There is nothing evil to that. The problem is in swallowing such perspectives and practices without "chewing" it--a form of serious reflection. We suffer indigestion. We actually act who we are not. In consequence, we make Filipinos think differently to who they are. Cultivating our Filipino taste of worship is actually foreign to our many churches. Our theology sounds more like and European or American, rather than Asian, or more specifically, Filipino. Our Filipino people were deprived of an authentic Christian Filipino faith and practice because of our inability to listen, facilitate, and cultivate the "divine design" among Filipinos.

Who will take the lead? Anyone? Count me in.

Thanks, Tony. I salute you.

Update: Jollibee enjoys the prestige today as the top most admired companies in the Philippines.