George Almeida remembers exactly when it happened. He was drinking coffee on the morning of March 30, 2025, in the kitchen of his home on a 1,300-acre cattle ranch in El Dorado County. 

As he flipped through the pages of Multi-Unit Franchisee magazine, his eyes landed on a full page ad that would change the course of his life — and the appetites of Bay Area residents — forever. Jollibee, the popular and nostalgic Filipino fast food chain, was looking to franchise in Northern California for the first time.

Almeida, a Richmond High School graduate and veteran franchisee who once owned multiple Fuddruckers and Dave’s Hot Chicken restaurants, called a longtime friend in the business who happened to grow up on Jollibee to see what she thought about him going for it. 

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“She was so happy, she just went through the roof,” Almeida recalled to SFGATE in an interview, laughing. “She said, ‘Oh my God, this is what you need to do!’”

George Almeida is pictured at his Fuddruckers restaurant in Concord, Calif., on June 4, 2026. 

So he did — in a big way. Under an agreement with the Jollibee Group North America, Almeida has signed on to develop 15 storefronts across Northern California over the next eight years.

The company, known for fried chicken that both Eater and USA Today have called the best in American fast food, has more than 1,700 stores worldwide, with 109 in North America and 81 of them in the U.S. The highest concentration — 28 — is in California.

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But the fast food empire with the cartoon bee mascot is on an expansion tear, with plans to open 500 stores across North America by 2030. For Almeida, the focus is on four counties — San Mateo, Santa Clara, Alameda and Contra Costa — and one specific location in Sonoma County, which will likely be the first to debut: the food court at Graton Resort and Casino in Rohnert Park. If all goes according to plan, Fremont and San Mateo will follow. 

“I thought, ‘If I have the opportunity to secure the entire Bay Area as my territory, that has a tremendous amount of........

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