Degradation of a Chic-Boy

Totoong chic-boy eh talagang madegrade kung lahat ng chicks eh sasagutin mo. hehe Yun tipo pinaiikot mo lahat ng babae. Grabe..

Etong Chic-boy na to, iba, sobrang nagpasikat sa lahat, nabubusog ka lalo na yun unang kain ko dito. 

Two days ago after eating here, eh talagang sabi ko papabagsak na...

There was  a dinner before na sobrang gutom na ko, eh kailangan ko kumain na gulay or something, so punta agad ako sa Retiro branch nila. 

Aba wala na! Sarado na! Anak ng tinapa, edi kain ako sa Rufo's ng bangus. hehe

It is sad na after praising their style and faith na this will pull off a following, well after 2-3 years of expanding, it is now at their surviving mode.

Noong sa Frisco branch nila, one of the biggest nilang branch kasi tatlong floors yun eh nagsara after some months. Then the West Ave branch, na una ko nakita na branch nila, failed after maybe 2 transfers of management. 

Then Quiapo branch just closed, tapos malamang susunod pa yun natitira. Bukas pa din yun nasa World Trade na company owned dapat. hehe Tapos yun Cubao, ayun, kahit bukas, halatang cost cutting. No bawang, less crew and poor service.

St. Luke's branch just celebrated their 1st anniv na mukhang tatagal pa. But not really na tatagal pa. Banawe suprisingly kala ko yun ang una mawawala pero nandun pa. hehe

If you ask me reasons.. I hope I know them right away pero when you observe and heard some gossips, eh malalaman mo din.

One friend mo mine, at mukhang account niya ito.. hehe Ah one reason was yun profit margin nila for each product daw eh negative. Ibig sabihin pag bumenta sila ng isang product nila, lugi. Meaning, they were running at a loss for the whole time. Work lang naman ng friend ko is like in the "up in the air" film. Malamang nainterview na yun mgra crew. Geez.. Scary.

Based on my observations, lagi ka pa naman kumakain dati di ba. hehe Despite catching price nila, I think they did not really compute ah total cost of the operation of a store everyday. Ibig ko lang sabihin, parang mas malaki yun overhead than raw materials. From bawang, the oils, even yun mga tissues with holders, eh magastos yun everyday ah. Tapos, yun serving nagbawas pa!!! Bad trip.. hehe Napansin ko like sa UST branch, walang aircon. hehe Tapos others don't serve bawang, you need to ask by request kung meron. 

 Price indeed priced competitively against Mang Inasal, pero nacompromise yun profit or worse, service. Marami silang crew, na works well, kaso yun nga kinakain yun profit as more crews raise overhead. Kaya pati Manager, crew na din. hehe

I can say yun start nila na sobrang raming menu, eh nakaapekto din for saving profit or kumbaga imbes na mga 1st 6 months na maka ROI if nabenta lahat nung mga menu nila, kaso di nangyari. Around some time, nagbawas sila ng menu, nawala pa yun mga paborito ko! hehe so siyempre, yun mga stock wala na, spoiled and it became expense pa. 

Lastly, and I know this was evident, lack of support from the main branch. Or they just made bad decisions from the start.

When it comes to franchising, this is a critical factor of choosing one. Well, at that time, bigla kasi nagexpand itong chic-boy which was not bad dati. If you're a customer like me yun mga unang years nila, aba why not invest? Sabi ko nga kung may 5 mil ka, dito na. hehe Kaso mabuti wala ko 5 mil noon kung hindi, naku, di mo mababawi pala! 

That was the mistake of them, they just did not check or let's say sana bago sila nagexpand into franchising.. Sana sila muna nagexpand, company owned. I mean, look at Jollibee or Mcdo, or other great franchising companies.. Before they went into franchising, matagal sila nag operate ng branches as company owned because bago sila magexpand eh they want to check if the business model is working properly in the passage of time. Until to the smallest cost eh nacheck nila kung kaya, or may profit ba talaga one branch as years go by. 

That's why those franchises are not cheap. Very expensive but proven na! A jollibee branch might cost 15mil, but with the branding and how they operate, aba may sure ROI pa. 

Chic-boy did not do that. It is not bad to strike the iron whilst hot, but dapat nagdelay sila into franchising then, check what were working and those na di nagwowork or nacheck nila agad na profit is going down as time goes by, nagplan sila nag magexpand. Well, although kumita sila malamang due to the fees, pero nakakaawa naman yun mga naginvest sa kanila. =(

Another example, Julie's, although may mga Julie's pa din, pero may mga branch sila na franchise, nagsara din due to siguro high expenses or same causes din. It's normal na mga ganitong franchises but it's not normal na pagkatapos mo maginvest, ilan months ng operation.. Sara na! Geez.

 Kaya yun, malamang yun mga tinayong chic-boy sa ibang lugar, di ako magtataka, sarado na. Hay.. 

Maybe, they just need to go back square one and it's not too late naman.. They can start from scratch and medya medya lang. Sayang yun concept nila, ang sarap pa naman yun cebu lechon liempo! hehe Yun mga bangus dishes nila, tapos halo halo.. See.. And yun ibang dishes nila, sayang. 

Well, they can just go back having pier one model again. hehe

Iba talaga pag chic-boy, mabuti di ako ganun! hahaha

Let's see if they will post this one sa website nila. hahahaha