People lined up for 10 hours to try Toronto’s first Jollibee restaurant

On Saturday night, while most of us were at home, snug in our beds, a legion of Jollibee fans were lining up for a taste of Jolly Spaghetti, Jolly Crispy Chicken and Yumburgers from the Philippines-based fast-food chain. The brand announced it would be opening its first Toronto store back in 2016, and the Scarborough location finally debuted at 7 a.m. on April Fools’ Day—but the crowd was no joke. Two tents protected thousands of Jollibee faithful—some who waited for as many as 10 hours—from wind, rain and temperatures that dipped below zero. The first 40 customers who spent $30 or more would receive a year’s worth of fried chicken (which, legally speaking, amounts to one six-piece bucket of bird every month for one year, starting in May). Here, some tweets and ’grams from opening day.

It was thoughtful of Jollibee to provide tents:

Here’s the line at midnight (only seven more hours until the doors open):

By 3 a.m., some were trying to catch some shut-eye:

Jollibee’s mascot (a jolly bee) waves the first people into the store:

Speaking of first people in line, here they are now:

The menu, just in case you’re curious what all the hype is about:

Was it worth it? These two seem to think so:

The excitement even inspired a new Raptors logo:

The final customers of opening day were served at 2:24 a.m., a full 19 hours and 24 minutes after the first ones: [facebook-embed]