Many Filipino foodies aren’t just familiar with the legendary buffalo wings of Frankie’s – they’re crazy about them.

Fans of Frankie’s New York Buffalo Wings’ already know the value for money and quality they’re getting every time they ask to be put on that crazy waiting list, but how many really know the brains and brawn behind the big brand?

Friends from high school turned business partners, the resto’s three founders, Eduardo Que Firmalo (president), Kevin Te (vice president), and Bin Tañedo (chief financial officer), built the household name from the ground up in September 2012, starting with their first branch in City Golf Plaza, Ortigas. 

Since then, 6 years was all it took for the business to boom, now with 7 branches around the Metro, over 400 employees, and a well-known, widely-loved name within the food industry.

Ed, Kevin, and Bin sat down with Rappler for a candid conversation on the inevitable holiday Frankie’s rush, the importance of proper time management, their personal family traditions, if chicken is still their favorite holiday food, and how being new fathers has changed both their personal and professional lives.

Christmas as a peak season for Frankie’s

Ed: For sure Christmas is peak season, especially when it hits the “ber” months palang. “Ber” months are our peak, and December especially. Our mall branches will really peak because of the foot traffic, everyone’s buying Christmas presents, so talagang we have to make sure we’re prepared for that holiday rush.

Rappler: How do you control the crazy lines? Even when it’s not peak season, there’s almost always a line. 

Ed: We add manpower to make sure the speed of the food and service isn’t compromised. Logisitically, we prepare talaga. Our people have to go over time, or we add people to make sure we have enough wings to give the stores. 

That’s another issue we have to constantly monitor – the supply of the chicken wings. The demand is really great! Not all suppliers can produce wings that big. We have to make sure we have enough supply. We constantly deliver, even more than once a day to one store, just to make sure they have enough chicken.

The logistical support and the manpower is what we have to make sure we have. Definitely, our sales increase by a good margin by the “ber” months, but December talaga. 

Kevin: Especially din because of the extended mall hours, since we have to comply too with the mall. Like now, we’re until 11pm. 

Ed: We add support talaga to our mall branches. Our SM Aura branch, our fourth/fifth store out of the 7, in terms of sales, come December, jump to the 3rd or 4th spot, even if it’s a small mall, since everyone’s shopping. Come December, it becomes a totally different store. The people are non-stop, the lines are long.

Our top performing branch is still the one at Crossroads BGC and Megamall. City Golf is third. UP Town Center is fourth. Performance also depends on the seating capacity. 

Kevin: We also have Foodpanda, and we have Grab Food now! Shameless plug (laughs). 

Finding time to enjoy the holidays amidst the business rush

Ed: During the earlier days of Frankie’s, we had limited capital and manpower, so back then, during the holidays, we’d work sagad, until December 24. Now that have more people helping us, we can now enjoy the luxury of time to balance work and personal life. We also make sure to rotate our staff’s schedules so our people can also spend time with their loved ones. 

Bin: First of all, it’s family, of course. We have to spend time with our parents. One thing we also make time for is our group of friends and classmates. He organizes our Christmas party every year (points to Ed). For Frankie’s itself naman, it’s our annual Christmas party. 

Kevin: We actually just had it last Monday. We close all the branches in the evening and open late the next day.

Ed: We give out a lot of awards to our guys, so they get surprised and motivated, like Employee of the Year or No Absences or Ironman of the Year. 

Kevin: It’s actually a fun time during our Christmas party. We always have themes. This year was 80’s, last year was Gatsby. We’re all in costumes. What I love is everyone’s so game, everyone dresses up talaga. The presentations they go all out. Ang galing! It’s really a fun thing to see their love and dedication.

Before nga eh, we were only 8-12 people, which was a simpler time back then. We’d have it in Seafood Island in Eastwood, and then in our Kapitolyo branch, but now that we’re bigger, almost 400 employees, we had to move it to a bigger venue outside.

Work-life balance during the holidays

Ed: The holidays is the only time we get to spend straight days with family. 

Bin: In the start though, it was really hard to balance. 

Ed: Kaming tatlo, we all got married the same year, in 2015. 

Kevin: I was first, they followed me. (laughs)

Ed: Then we had our kids shortly after.

Kevin: Our kids are all the same age pa.

Ed: Kaya before the holidays, I have to make sure everything is all set. We make sure to have a healthy rotation, para everything’s fair for everybody. Before, I’d work 12-16 hours a day, even on Sundays. But now, since we’re parents and have a family, you have to be able to find a way. These kids, they really grow so fast. Otherwise, you’ll wake up one day and your kid knows how to speak na. How did they know how to do this? You don’t even realize when you saw that or how it’d happen. That’s one thing we realized. So now, I’m more strict with myself that I have to be home in time for dinner, before my son goes to sleep.

Before I’d work until 10-11 pm. Now it’s a non-negotiable that I have to be home for dinner. We’re at that age where we have to find the time to balance. 

Bin: Before, our schedule was up to 16 hours of working, and then we’d drink and party after. (laughs) So we just changed the drinking and partying part to family time. 

Ed: When you’re younger talaga, you have energy pa. 

Kevin: Now you can’t go home at 4 am. 3 am nalang. (laughs)

Ed: At least now, with our families, we’re a bit more stable, so we can balance it more. 

What they look forward to during Christmas

Ed: Well, my birthday is December 24. It’s a one-celebration thing. It’s about spending my birthday and Christmas with family. Family, at the end of the day, is what I really look forward to. It’s just a few straight days in a year with my immediate family – parents, siblings, nieces, nephews, my wife and kid. 

Bin: When you have a kid in the future, spending time with him, seeing him playing around, even if you’re doing nothing, its worth the effort of taking time off your busy schedule and spending it with your kid. You work hard for the extra time spent. At the end of the day, it’s really coming home to him and just spending time together. It’s fun. It’s good and relaxing downtime when you’re stressed from work and you see your kid. 

Ed: During the holidays, everyone else is also on break. No one is bothering us as well. On a normal work day, even if you say, “I’m gonna take this day off for my family”, you’re going to get texts and calls. Holidays are pretty quiet.

Must-do holiday traditions and practices 

Ed: Earlier on, when I was struggling, I couldn’t afford to buy any gift for my family members. When we started doing better, I made it a point that when I felt there was something my family needed something, I would go out of my way to get it for them and make sure I have something to give on Christmas Day. It was years of being a student and being a broke businessman, so it’s a good feeling.

Bin: More than presents, we prioritize food in our family. We prepare talaga. Before, when our place was still small, we’d just have Mcdonalds and Jollibee for Christmas. This time, we make sure we have good food.  

Kevin: I have a lot of family traditions. We have Secret Santa every year, we usually go out of the country – our entire clan is more than 30 people. This year, we’re just staying here, which is honestly a good break. Christmas is all about spending time with family and friends. I plan a lot of Christmas parties too with different groups of friends.

Best gifts they’ve ever received

Ed: Sorry kung cheesy, but my son was born on the second week of November. By Christmas 2016, we were learning pa how to deal with having a child. Sorry kung cheesy, but my kid is definitely the best gift I’ve ever got. 

Kevin: Mine too. My daughter was born 2 days after his son. 

Bin: No particular item, but nowadays, as I grow older, spending time with family is the gift. I don’t really mind material things more than the company. Every year, that’s the gift.

Kevin: As a kid, Christmas came slow. Nowadays, everything is fast. I can’t believe 2018 is almost over. At this point, it’s all about one of the most valuable things for me, which is time. It’s what you do with time that matters. Spending it with family is enough. 

On their favorite holiday food (that isn’t chicken)

Ed: Mine is weird, because I love Japanese food. This has been running for 10 years na, because I have this favorite sushi from a small grocery in Katipunan. Come Noche Buena, since it’s almost my birthday, my mom will order 200 pieces for everyone of that California Maki. To this day, I really look forward to that. 

Kevin: This Starbucks drink, the Peppermint Mocha. I usually have 7-8 planners at the end of the year, because I like the drink so much, not because of the planner. I like coffee, but I don’t usually drink Starbucks, except during Christmas. Come November 2, when they first release the holiday drinks, I have this baby at least once a day. I can do up to 3 times a day, for every day of the holiday season. I have 5 planners na, nakatambak lang. 

Their ultimate Christmas wish

Bin: Me, I want another baby. I want a girl. 

Kevin: For business it’s always going to be a prosperous and successful business.

Ed: We hope that even though this has been going strong for 6 years, that it will continue to flourish for the next decade or so. 

Kevin: It’s cheesy also, but it’s true. Honestly, as a dad, I just want a nice, healthy, wonderful life for my daughter. That’s all that matters. Your priorities and perspective change when you’re a parent. That’s the best wish I can hope for. 

Also, if you could let people know, our newest branch in Kapitolyo is now open since August! It’s the first Frankie’s stand-alone restaurant that we built from the ground up. 

Ed: Our Molito branch in the South is opening soon, too! 

– Rappler.com