Fried chicken chain with fanatical cult following coming to San Francisco downtown

A fast food chain with a rabid fan base is finally coming to downtown San Francisco after an excruciating six-year wait thanks to red tape and bureaucracy.

Jollibee, a Filipino fried chicken chain that was crowned at one point the best fast food fried chicken seller in the nation, will open its doors in the Bay Area city on July 31.

The location is a former Payless shoe store near the Powell Street station of the Bay Area Rapid Transit and Hallidie Plaza.

It will be open 9 a.m. to 10 p.m. daily, and the store will offer to-go and online ordering in addition to dine-in options for its wildly popular menu of crispy fried chicken, Filipino-style sweet spaghetti and peach-mango pies.

The opening date is many years late and overdue, as it was originally slated to open in 2023. But the launch got pushed out to 2024, then 2025, before finally opening this year.

Much of the delay has been from navigating the city bureaucracy, The San Francisco Chronicle reported.

City approvals since 2020 included a historic preservation review, utility installation approvals, and coordination with multiple agencies around its proximity to public transportation.

Things were even looking dicey this year when noise testing in January of rooftop mechanical equipment showed it was louder than San Francisco’s daytime and nighttime decibel thresholds.

Jollibee eventually added “vibration isolation pads,” and finally this month, city departments signed off on its opening.

There had been much speculation from fans on any signs of opening during those years, including most recently the removal of the boards that have been covering the windows.

The new San Francisco opening will not be Jolibee’s last.

The fast-food chain only recently announced plans to double its presence in Northern California. A franchisee will open 15 Northern California locations over the next eight years.

Jolilibee operates at least 1,600 locations worldwide and more than 80 in America.

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