BBQ restaurant eyes expansion after 5-Star Eats win
MANILA, Philippines — Six years into providing signature, quality Filipino meals at affordable prices, Vito's BBQ is looking ahead to a wider reach of customers.
The restaurant is the brainchild of married couple Mike and Karlene Pelayo who started Vito's, named after their son, in the early days of the pandemic sharing the family's secret recipes with loved ones.
What started as home-cooked meals to friends and family became available to the public in May 2020, then later that September, its first physical branch.
Fast forward to 2026, Vito's BBQ now has 10 branches around Metro Manila — half of those in San Juan and Quezon City — and its Boneless Chicken Plate dish recently won the Filipino Icon Platinum Award at the inaugural 5-Star Eats Awards hosted by superapp Grab Philippines.
Rap Pelayo and Nat Rivera, the restaurant's director and business manager, respectively, sat down with members of the media, including Philstar.com, after receiving the award last September 3 in Makati to discuss what lay ahead for Vito's BBQ.
"Everyday talaga, nag-usap kami, 'How do we improve Vito's even further?' The goal now also for Vito's is to really expand," said Rivera, citing plans to open branches in Manila, Poblacion, and more in Quezon City to meet rising demand.
Pelayo cited the help of Grab in researching the next best location to open, and the superapp details what food items are searched for the most in a given area.
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The two executives were hoping to also win the coveted Merchant of the Year title, which eventually went to Cebu City-based Alberto's Pizza.
Still, for Pelayo winning a 5-Star Award is validation of what any establishment is attempting to do.
"It's reflected on other people. When we try to perform we only view it from our lens, but we don't really get the chance to see outward," he continued. "With the award system, it gives us that pat on the back, 'Good job, let's try to keep it up'."
Rivera compared an award to a badge of honor that "really transcends among everyone, even until the back end that goes crazy with all of the data and statistics," reflecting on the restaurant's progress since the pandemic.
Pelayo also found it humorous that his family of foodies hailing from Pampanga grew up with eating as part of the culture, but there is equally a lot of good things in running a food & beverage establishment.
"The 5-Star Eats Awards... is our standard. It gives you that extra fuel to take [it] with pride," Pelayo ended. "We don't have to settle for something less, we have to chase after this kind of standard. This is what we need to do at the end of the day."
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