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Bamboombayan Chicken and their secret ingredient to success

Bamboombayan Chicken and their secret ingredient to success

Fried chicken is probably the best food anyone can ever discover. And, a lot of people will surely agree with that. There is a chicken place in Naga City that has gone beyond its purpose as a business. Village Pipol Magazine was fortunate enough to talk to the people behind Bamboombayan Chicken who shared the story behind their success.

Celebrating its eleventh year in the industry, Bamboombayan Chicken really proved that nothing is impossible. Who would have thought that a simple chicken place in Naga City would reach a big milestone and be able to touch the lives of many individuals?

Bamboombayan Chicken and their secret ingredient to success

The people behind Bamboombayan Chicken

Marion Briz and Kaye Dy-Briz met each other in March 2006. They became college sweethearts and had a civil wedding in June 2018. They have been together for seventeen years and now have two kids together. And, just like in founding Bamboombayan Chicken, they proved that love is also about taking risks.

Marion Briz | Facebook

The Start of Everything

During college, Mr. Briz was the head coach of a football team in Ateneo De Naga (ADNU). At that time, they hired a German national football coach and ran a program together with the President’s office. This program was called Cafe Europe, a canteen wherein the employees would work there for two years and receive a scholarship in return. They were able to help sixteen scholars to graduate from college with the help of the program.

Marion Briz | Facebook

Cafe Europe had a partnership with SMEDI, another office in Ateneo, and they created another canteen in a vacant office. This canteen was an extension of Cafe Europe. It was called Clubhouse. It has new menus but has the same advocacy. They will train an out-of-school youth for 2 years and then give them a scholarship.

Mr. Briz was one of the people running the Clubhouse. Unfortunately, they only lasted for two weeks because of politics. Since they have a few more out-of-school youth to take care of, Mr. Briz really made an effort to work on their dream and advocacy; hence the birth of Bamboombayan Chicken.

Marion Briz | Facebook

Kaye, his girlfriend at that time, funded the operations. Since she was looking for a business venture, Mr. Briz convinced her to push forward on the canteen since they already had customers; although her initial plan was to put up a laundry business. They added the money that was refunded by the new President of Ateneo as their capital to put up Bamboombayan Chicken.

The concept of Bamboombayan Chicken

At first, they had no idea about their concept. They just wanted to continue the advocacy of Cafe Europe. But, then, when they were already constructing the structure, Briz realized that the majority of the materials used were bamboo. So, he played with the idea that since they are in Bagumbayan and they were using bamboo, he thought of Bamboombayan. Also, it’s like a bamboo getaway in Bagumbayan, Briz added.

Before, they were actually serving pork-based food like sisig and tenderloin. They had a cook but eventually left them since they were not on good terms; caused by frequent salary advances. Unfortunately, they don’t have any food experience and they only know the recipes of their previous cook. But, they don’t really know how their previous cook makes the food appetizing.

One thing that their previous cook doesn’t master was the chicken. So, they focused on the chicken recipe. After a while, they noticed that most of the orders were that – chicken. Until they decided to drop the pork recipes since the customers were really coming back to order their chicken.

All about the Bamboombayan’s chicken

Bamboombayan is popular for its one-piece chicken meal. They offer different flavors of chicken and sell it at a very affordable price. They have Mushy Gravy, Honey Glazed, Buffalo Style, Buttered Parmesan, Korean Style, and a whole lot more. Briz shared that his favorite was their Original recipe since he always eats it to assess the flavor. He would just add sauce as a side for quality control as well.

For ten years, their Mushy Gravy was the best-selling flavor. But, recently, the top spot has a very close competition between Mushy Gravy and Honey Glazed. At first, Briz was nervous because he thought that the quality of Mushy Gravy was not good. But, he realized that people have just discovered that their Honey Glazed was good as well.

Overcoming their struggles

Running a business surely is not a walk in the park. And, we can see it with Bamboombayan Chicken. During the interview, Briz shared that at first, they don’t know their purpose after they left Ateneo. But, since they wanted to sustain their advocacy, they pushed through with the business.

He further mentioned that their struggles were just coming smoothly in their experience, it wasn’t very impactful but still, they really learned something from it every time. They experienced the pandemic, the K-12 transition, several typhoons, and thieves. Despite all the struggles and difficulties experienced, Briz believed in “good karma comes.” Furthermore, he said that if you truly have a deeper purpose in life, then you will really receive abundant blessings.

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There was even a time when all their sizzling plates were stolen. When it happened, they don’t have a choice but to buy new non-sizzling ones. This unfortunate event happened to be a turning point in their business. Since they were not using the sizzling plates anymore, they had a faster serving time which led to more customers coming into their restaurant.

Also, when K-12 started, they suffered a financial loss. This was during the time when students in Ateneo were not allowed to go out. They had no customers for two years and eventually, in 2019 they recovered. But, the pandemic happened, and unfortunately, it was also one of their downfalls.

Their secret ingredient to a successful business

Most likely, when starting a business, you will fail 99% of the time. But, Briz shared the most important ingredient to have a successful business. They started with their core advocacy and he believed that this helped in the sustainability of their business. Since they know their purpose, good karma goes back to them.

As a business owner, Briz would ask himself ‘how will a business be successful’? He said that it was hard to answer this question. What he would advise instead is to have an advocacy. Since it worked for them, he believed that it will probably work for others as well. Even if your business fails, at least you did something impactful and remarkable; not just gain profit through the business.

In addition, Briz believed that the best advocacy today would be about being environmental-friendly. Business owners should be aware of their impact on the environment.  Hence, they should know how to handle waste and limit the use of plastic. If they can’t think of any advocacy for their business, Briz mentioned that the environment is always the way to go, because it’s our home.

Aside from having advocacy, Briz advised businesses to be creative. In their case, since he loves designing and would usually play with colors, he was able to incorporate it with their products and menu. Furthermore, he said not to offer what is already present. For instance, the competition for chicken is good. Since they offer a one-piece chicken meal, one competitor would sell fillets and the other would offer chicken balls.

Plans for the business

Business gurus would often say that once you reached the ten-year mark of your business, you would have lesser chances of failing. And, we can see it with Bamboombayan Chicken as they have surpassed this mark. As part of their eleventh-year anniversary celebration, they released an 11/11 promo for their customers. Now, they are planning to organize a mini-concert by the end of March. Also, they have new business ventures like their coffee and cookies. You should definitely check them out on Facebook!

Briz really felt grateful for the continuous love and support of their business. Despite the pandemic and all their struggles, people are still really going back to the best-selling fried chicken in town, Bamboombayan Chicken.

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