Chowking

Beginnings (1985–1999)

Hailing from a Chinese-Filipino family, Robert Kuan graduated with an MBA degree in 1975. He became the CEO of Ling Nam, a Chinese restaurant in Binondo, Manila, partially owned by his family, and successfully expanded it into a small restaurant chain. Ling Nam, however, was plagued by family conflict. Kuan learned that the shareholders were planning to remove him from his position. Taking the advice of his friend Henry Sy, Kuan resigned in October 1984.

Kuan had plans to start his own Chinese restaurant, another piece of advice from Sy. He wanted to adopt the fast food format, providing an alternative to the leading Western-style fast food chains such as Jollibee and McDonald's.

Chowking Food Corporation was incorporated on February 19, 1985. The principal investors were Kuan, Jollibee founder Tony Tan Caktiong and Wilson Chu. After two years, Kuan and Caktiong bought Chu's shares, so they each owned 50% of the company. The name "Chowking" comes from the Chinese word meaning "outstanding".

The first Chowking opened on March 18, 1985, on the ground floor of Rotary Arcade (now the site of SM Makati) in Makati Commercial Center, Makati. In 1989, Chowking started a franchise system which enabled them to enter new markets with limited resources. Its first franchise opened in the provincial town of Meycauayan, Bulacan. That year, Chowking had expanded to ten locations. It required ₱5–7 million to start a new Chowking franchise.

Chowking's 1992 expansion program led to the opening of the first two stores outside Luzon: at Limketkai Center in Cagayan de Oro, Mindanao and at Era Mall in Bacolod, Visayas. A U.S. government report believed that Chowking was likely to succeed because Filipinos enjoyed Chinese cuisine and had a "newly-found concern for the clean, well-lit and quick service they provide." At the end of 1992, there were 21 Chowking locations. In 1996, Chowking opened its hundredth location.