For Lao, this definitely came as an advantage since she was tasked with managing all the products they create as well as their online platform madeats.co. She works closely with Villareal and Cruz in conceptualizing their brands, but it was her trips to Seoul, Korea from which they drew inspiration for their first concept Yang Gang. “Late last year we noticed that everything Korean was the hottest thing. So we figured that creating a Korean brand, with a product that Filipinos love— fried chicken— would be a good starting point,” Cruz explains. “One of the more iconic street foods in Korea is fried chicken, particularly served with a very addictive cheese sauce. So we decided to make our own.”

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Other brands followed, such as the Chinese take-take out concept Chow Time; Filipino rice bowls and flavoured turon they call “sticky rolls” from Fried Nice; and their coffee-to-go brand Dot Coffee. Their vision is clear: “To create products that are engineered for delivery, by simply being more thoughtful about the customer’s experience. Small tweaks to things such as packaging, ordering platform, and delivery experience are things we work on optimizing,” says Cruz.

She further explains how having total control over customer experience from start to finish is an advantage that MadEats fully utilizes to further develop and improve their products. “The benefit of being full-stack is that the customer’s journey starts and ends with MadEats, which means that they are getting the most out of our product. Also, we’re very interactive with our customers so feedback is instant and highly encouraged. This is really important to us because we are constantly iterating and working on improving all aspects of our business.” Still, ghost kitchens are a new concept in the Philippines and Cruz admits they need to “work harder” to get the word out about their food. “One disadvantage of what we’re doing is that generally speaking, F&B is highly competitive. In a world where delivery aggregators are so dominant, it can be difficult to change consumer habits.”

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While it is true that old habits die hard for some, there are also many who see the shift to ghost kitchens as a business model with long-term profitability. MadEats was recently given USD $125,000 in funding by Silicon Valley-based start-up accelerator Y Combinator, proving not only their rising dominance in the local food industry but also that their innovative choices have the potential to endure.

With this vote of confidence comes more plans. Villareal wants to start building: “We’re opening more delivery-only food concepts in the next year and more ghost kitchens so we can deliver to more ‘hangry’ customers!” For Lao, the future is all about sustainability, which she wants to integrate into their company’s practices, “whether through our packaging, food waste, or by introducing healthier products with ethically-sourced ingredients.” Still, at the heart of every food business is customer satisfaction. “I would love for MadEats to be a household name locally, and in the future– regionally,” admits Cruz. “Seeing customers post our food or talk about how much they like our product still gives me joy, because at the end of the day– when they’re happy, we’re happy.” 

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