How Chooks To Go Became One of PHs Top Selling Chicken Brands

When one talks about the name Chooks to Go, two things come to mind–lechon manok or roasted chicken, and sports, since the brand is a committed sponsor to many leagues and teams.

But how did such a brand come out of nowhere to dominate the market? Here are the chain of unfortunate but fruitful events that led an egg to hatch a dominant business that spans decades.

Chooks to Go traced its origins to the 1980s when entrepreneur Tennyson Chen went to start Bounty Agro Ventures Incorporated (BAVI) in Sta. Maria, Bulacan.

His portfolio started with a farm and a mere 5,000 chickens.

BAVI steadily grew until in 2002, when Chen decided to up the ante as the businessman sought to scale up his company.

Enter Ronald Mascariñas, who was at that time the president of San Miguel fast-food brand Smokey’s and the senior vice president of PureFood’s Poultry and Food Service.

Chen hired PureFood’s top executive to further professionalize BAVI, and take the whole business to a new level.

Mascariñas then targeted BAVI to have reach nationwide as he spearheaded agreements that allowed BAVI to operate a network of poultry farms, complete with processing and logistics.

From the initial Bulacan farm, BAVI grew to have 7 plant operations in the Luzon region, 8 in Visayas, and 4 in Mindanao.

The exponential growth of BAVI was then hampered by an Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) agreement.

The ASEAN Free Trade Area was established in January 1992 with the aim of eliminating tariff barriers among Southeast Asian countries. This translates to the poultry industry of other southeast Asian countries to penetrate the Philippine market, and to serve as a direct competitor to BAVI’s business.

The free trade agreement meant that larger poultry producers in the ASEAN area may be able to sell their poultry products to the Philippines for a lower price.

This challenged BAVI to seek other means to maintain a profitable business. This led the agro company to shift to a more business-to-consumer-centric approach and sell ready-to-serve chicken products.

This marks the birth of Chooks-to-Go.

Chen said in a 2014 interview with marketing savant Josiah Go that the free trade agreement forced BAVI’s hands to seek other opportunities.

“When competition disturbs our company’s direction, it challenges us to search for other opportunities to strengthen our position in the industry. The imminent challenge of cheaper chicken supply from competing imports with the implementation of the ASEAN Free Trade Area (AFTA) Agreement gave birth to Chooks-to-Go,” Chen said.

Chooks-to-Go expanded in 2008, with now having almost 2,000 stores nationwide.

In January 2022, Chooks-to-Go was recognized as one of the world’s most popular fast-food franchises.

Chooks-to-Go was ranked top 2 in the Philippines and top 63 in the world by foody’s World’s Most Popular Fast Food Franchises list, an international app for fast food, delivery, and take-out.

Chooks-to-Go is one of only two Philippines-based brands that made it to the global list. (GFB)