Banoks Ihaw Ihaw Restaurant:

The prospect of developing a dish that could be associated with Davao and with a potential for becoming a national chain motivated Manuel Paul “Bong” Villanueva to put up a restaurant. Banoks Ihaw-Ihaw—coined from the words, barbecueng manok—began as a single proprietorship in 1995 with 35 employees. At that time, the chicken inasal was starting to gain headway in Negros. Bong thought of coming out with the same concept of serving grilled chicken in Davao. The initial staple offerings at Banoks were grilled pork and chicken. Shortly, pancit and bulalo were added to the menu.

The second Banoks outlet opened a year later, in 1996. And by 1997, the couple had six Banoks outlets consisting of restaurants and kiosks; a total of eight restaurants including Café Eliza, the first full-service restaurant set up by the couple in 1989 when they were still sweethearts. They also had a small convenience store and several food carts in the malls that sell Mexican food (tacos and nachos) and fruit shakes and halo-halo..

To an ordinary mortal, having seven restaurants specializing in grilled food four years into the business and snack food stalls would have sufficed to claim business success, sit back, and enjoy listening to the cash registers ring. But not Bong. Expectedly, the success of Banoks opened the floodgates of chicken and pork barbecue businesses. As a matter of fact, Bong was instrumental for making grilled chicken meals popular in Davao—in a land where fresh seafood reigns supreme. “Barely a few weeks after opening a new branch, other eateries with the same menu would be sprouting nearby,” claims Bong. With competition, no matter the size—from roadside stalls to dine-ins—on the rise, Bong surmised that it would take him so many more light years to achieve his goal of making a name in this island of the archipelago, and eventually conquering the country. Bong was not about to give up.

UP education has molded Bong to excel in a very competitive environment. The challenge began when he passed the UPCAT; it came with the pressure to live up to the expectation of being among the best. He knew then that along with the privilege, independence (of living away from home in Davao), and flexibility, comes responsibility. “In UP, one is very much on one’s own after the first day, when the professor recites the requirements, gives the syllabus, and the schedule and coverage of quizzes, term papers, and exams,” he recalls.

In between attending to the demands of his businesses and growing family, Bong always had time for technical and management seminars. His enrollment in a Master in Management course at UP Mindanao—which he finished in 2006—was providential. Using his restaurant business as basis for the required strategic paper, he learned, among other things, that the best way to improve and grow a business was to incorporate.

Sunrise Foods Corporation was formed in 2006 with Bong and Mariel as principal shareholders. While he derived the idea from the inasal, the similarity of Banoks Ihaw-Ihaw with Bacolod chicken inasal, however, ends with the main ingredients, chicken and pork. The Banoks’ version of the chicken barbecue is somewhat sweeter and without achuete coloring. The company spruced up the stores and launched an aggressive promotional strategy for the new image. In a few months, Banoks was transformed into a full-service diner serving authentic Davao cuisine, the only one of its kind in the city. In addition, Banoks’ expanded its repertoire to include a variety of other delectable dishes.

There was no stopping Bong. The next stage after incorporating was—what else—to franchise. Franchising would stave off competition, allow expansion, and provide maximum exposure at very minimal costs. The company carefully worked out a franchise package with reasonable rates for three types of franchises: restaurant with commissary, restaurant unit, and kiosk. Since then, there has been no let up in promoting Banoks. Aside from being listed in a web-based franchising site, Bong also presides over franchising presentations similar to the one organized by Unilever in Manila last month.

Today, there are 11 Banoks outlets spread all over in Davao. Most of them are company-owned and the rest are franchises. In the final planning stage is another one in General Santos City. Negotiations have just been concluded for the first franchise to open next year outside Mindanao, along the Timog Avenue strip in Quezon City.

The menu is predominantly sinugba (barbecued or grilled meats and seafood), tinola or tinowa (soup), and kinilaw (raw fish salad). And when fast food chains came out with ‘combo’ meals, Banoks followed suit with its su-tu-kil, a combination platter of sugbang panga, tinola, and kinilaw with unlimited rice. This has become a favorite among diners. For the budget-conscious, one can have a filling meal consisting of meat, soup, achara, and unlimited rice for a very reasonable price. The company processes slightly over three tons of chicken, tuna, and pork daily; chicken output accounts for 65 per cent.

It has helped that Mariel proved to be a very good partner in life and in business. A banking and finance graduate, she excels in figures as much as she does in developing new recipes. Before they set up the commissary, all supplies, food preparations, and the office were housed in the couple’s residence, with the family kitchen doubling as her laboratory for experimenting and testing the recipes before introducing new dishes. The family members were just too willing to be the critics. Even the instant noodles were not forgiven, Banoks developed its own variant. At present, a core staff composed of the most loyal and trusted employees man the commissary.

Of what stuff is Bong Villanueva made? This son of a doctor and youngest in a family of four was groomed to take in after his dad. He enrolled in Biology at UP Los Baños where he stayed for three and a half years. An unfortunate incident prompted his transfer to Ateneo de Davao. By the time he finished his B.S. Biology at age 21, he already had a string of successful business endeavors in his resume—as distributor of TheBar (an alcoholic drink) in Los Baños and other parts of Laguna, Burger Bar (inspired by the success of a local burger chain in Manila)—a hamburger stall at the hospital in Davao where his dad worked (which robbed him of his student nightlife albeit without any regret on his part), burger vans (following the concept of a known burger brand) also in Davao, and Café Eliza. TheBar had to go when he continued his studies in Davao. Later, he gave away the burger stall as a wedding gift to his original tindera to allow him to focus on the café and the burger vans.

When the burger chains set foot in Davao one after the other, in 1993 and 1994, as Bong had anticipated, he dropped the burgers. He used the proceeds from the buyout of his vans (which had by then increased to three) by the second chain to start Banoks.

He may not have become a doctor. But, as it turned out, the medical profession’s loss is the food industry’s gain. Instead of prolonging lives, Banoks Ihaw-Ihaw is providing people with a living.

But all is not Banoks and family for Bong who has four children with Mariel. He feels very strongly about giving back to society. Bong is an active partner in several feeding programs, an advocacy that, unknowingly, has rubbed on to his people. In the past, his staff would volunteer to prepare food to feed the streetchildren who frequent a drop-in center in the city. These are kids who refuse to be confined in their homes or shelters. The children go there to bathe, eat, and sometimes sleep. Today, the center staff takes care of preparing the food supplied by Bong and feed the children. He also provides sacks of rice and several kilos of chicken monthly to the Dept. of Social Welfare and Development for the latter’s project for malnourished children. “These are very modest contributions. Helping people is a small accomplishment. One must do better. It may sound corny, but I feel that a UP alumnus is expected to spearhead work for the good of the country,” Bong reveals.

Manuel Paul Villanueva has come a long way from the time he sold waffles as a young boy in some parish fiesta. The road was not without blocks, the most damaging of which was the banana trading that gave him valuable lessons. No doubt his creativity, passion, and hard work will continue to drive him closer to achieving his dream.