3,000 Worldwide Locations

14,000 Employees

62 Billion in Annual Revenue

Numbers like these make conjure images of American mega chains like McDonald's, Taco Bell

or KFC

Yet the franchise I'm describing is largely invisible to the West

Flashback to 1898 when Spain's crushing naval defeat in the Spanish-American war led

them to surrender their overseas colonies to US hands

Puerto Rico, Cuba

and the 7,000-Island archipelago collectively known as the Philippines.

The Filipino people understandably upset at having their sovereignty used as a bargaining chip

rebelled for independence, igniting the Philippine-American War the next year.

The conflict led to a prolonged US military presence that would leave a heavy imprint

on the nation's economy and cultural identity over the course of the 20th century.

This was certainly the case in 1978 in the Filipino metropolis of Cazon City

where entrepreneur Tony Tan Cactiong converted his fledgling ice cream parlor into a hot dog

and fried chicken stand.

The outlets ability to adapt American food to local tastes made a sensation and expanded

throughout the islands by opening new locations and via savvy acquisitions of its competitors.

By the 90s it added a massive presence across much of the Eastern Hemisphere and embarked

on some colonialism of its own, expanding the US shores.

So how will its young burgers, chicken joys and sweets spaghetti be received by canos

...