Finding Sinangag Station with the help of 88DB.com

MANILA, Philippines - While the metropolis is filled with fast-food chains that serve burgers and fries, Pinoys will always have a soft spot for meals with rice and viands, as shown by the mushrooming of carinderia and turo-turo eateries in our communities.

These community-based mini-restaurants serve classic Pinoy dishes, such as sinigang and adobo, plus the popular combo meals like tapsilog, tocilog and longsilog, from breakfast to dinnertime. However, only a few manage to run 24 hours a day, seven days a week.

Most of these 24/7 food stalls serve tapsilog and the like to cater to taxi drivers, employees on odd working hours and gimikeros who scour for food at wee hours of the morning after a drinking-spree.

One of the most well-known of such establishments in Cebu is Sinangag Station, an all-day, all-night fast-food restaurant that serves full meals at rock-bottom prices. Resty Esponilla, an entrepreneur and food and beverage industry veteran, opened Sinangag Station’s first outlet along F. Cabahug Street in the booming village of Mabolo in Cebu in October 2003.

To date, Sinangag Station has a total of 15 outlets, 13 in Cebu and two in Quezon City. The branch in UP Village is company-owned while the newest one, located along Katipunan Avenue, across Ateneo de Manila University, is franchised by two young Fil-Ams, Gerome Garcia and Jason Miguel, who chose to invest their hard-earned money in their homeland. 

The duo found out about Sinangag Station last year in Cebu after attending a friend’s wedding party. The wedding reception ended past midnight and the two looked for a place to eat and found Sinangag Station in Mabolo, Cebu.

“It was love at first sight, so they say, and in this case, my buddy Jason and I did not waste time. We met with the owner Resty Esponilla to permit us to franchise Sinangag Station and build a branch on Katipunan Avenue,” says Garcia.

“It was a good decision on our part to invest in Sinangag Station over other franchise businesses because aside from its convenience, it also offers very tasty Pinoy food at very affordable prices. The market would really appreciate our price and, at the same time, the quality of food we offer,” he adds.

At first, Esponilla had second thoughts since he had just opened the UP Village branch, and if another branch were to be put up, a commissary will then be required. Also, frequent travel to and from Cebu will be required of him in order to supervise it. However, with the perseverance of Garcia and Miguel, Esponilla finally agreed and the rest is history.

The Katipunan restaurant opened last June 14 and was attended by Esponilla and his wife, Garcia, Miguel, and their friends and relatives. With the opening of this new branch, the beloved tapsilog and its kinfolk will now be available 24/7 to the Katipunan community, particularly the students and employees of nearby offices who cannot go through the day (or night) without eating rice. 

“We are so happy to welcome the newest franchisee to our Singangag Station family. We are optimistic that this new branch here in Katipunan will be as successful as its Cebu counterparts,” Esponilla says. “Now we are so happy that the Singangag Station is in Katipunan, Quezon City to serve more people 24/7. We are sure that people will troop to the branch any time of the day to have their favorite combo meals.”

Garcia is equally confident of their new venture’s success. “We managed to contact Resty through the Sinangag Station website (which was developed by 88DB.com). We knew right away that this will be a good business to go into. Imagine being found online by the Katipunan community. Our vision is to get into delivery, too, so having a website is perfect,” he says.

 Racquel Cagurangan, general manager of 88DB.com, says, “Sinangag Station came to us to help them with their website and we have since developed a good business relationship with the brand. It has become so successful in Cebu in such a short time, we see no reason why it won’t succeed here in Metro Manila. We’re happy to have been able to help them with their online presence.”

88DB.com, the Philippines’ first rich multimedia service and lifestyle portal, is designed to help visitors find almost everything they need, from beauty shops and restaurants to real estate and car accessories. It is a super site where large companies, small-and-medium enterprises, organizations, and even freelancers can promote their products and services online.