MANILA - Fried chicken lovers queued on Feb. 24 for the opening of Jollibee's first store in Scotland, Jollibee Foods Corp said Friday.

Hundreds of customers lined up as early as 3 hours ahead of the 10 a.m. opening of Jollibee's store at 136 Princes Street in Edinburgh, JFC said in a statement.

The "most-ordered" food item was Chickenjoy, followed by chicken sandwich, the famous Filipino-style Jollibee Spaghetti and the yumburger, the country's largest restaurant operator said.

Princes street is among the busiest in the capital, which has a large student population, the company said.

“We are happy to be opening our first Jollibee in Scotland and following up with the next location in Glasgow after a few weeks. From a single store in 2018, we’ve now grown to a network of 10 stores across the UK," Jollibee Group CEO Ernesto Tanmantiong said.

• Jollibee eyes 2 Scotland stores, serves 1.3 million Chickenjoy in UK in 2021

The Scotland expansion is part of JFC's aggressive growth plans in Europe. It recently opened stores in London, Wales, Madrid and Rome, among others.

Earlier this year, Jollibee said it has served some 1.3 million pieces of Chickenjoy across Europe.

Jollibee is part of the Jollibee Group, which aims to become among the worlds top 5 restaurant operators. JFC operates in 34 countries with over 5,800 stores globally.

• Jollibee eyes 2 Scotland stores, serves 1.3 million Chickenjoy in UK in 2021
• Jollibee sets opening of first stores in Scotland, Kuala Lumpur in 2022