u/likethetropics

Just saw this from the official FB page and screenshotted before it gets taken down. This is really sad to hear — used to love eating at Koko Buri, ganun pala nangyari behind the scenes :(

FULL TEXT: "Five months ago, my team at Koko Buri and I decided to close the resto operations effective March 1. We announced it nine days before the closing, prompting a deluge of customers wanting to make a final taste of Koko's famous fried chicken and Nagasaki Champon. Many were asking why was Koko Buri closing. Many cannot reconcile the fact that Koko Buri Clark had been doing well and yet the decision to cease operations. A few speculated it was not making a profit. Others were saying it might be a change of management. I told friends who kept pressing for a clear answer that I will issue a 'formal' answer to all their questions in due time.

And that time is now.

After learning of the decision of the owner to bring back Koko Buri, I thought this is the right time to end all speculations and give everyone who cared to know the real reason.

There are several factors which I think led to that decision to cease operations. And the following are, what I believe, have contributed to that.

In February 2023, my boss and I had a talk about where we want to take the business. He mentioned that we were both getting old and we need to fast track our plans to expand via franchising. During that same meeting, he was already hinting that he wants to replace the resto manager with his ‘trusted’ staff who oversees the preparation of sauces needed in the resto. That was not the first time he brought up the idea. He gave me two options: 1. He will keep paying my salary but no need for me to work. Since the business is under my name, I will be paid (which is not much) for using my name in his business and have the resto operations managed by his ‘trusted’ staff, or 2. Continue managing the business with my resto manager but I need to give him a net profit of ₱550,000 every month starting January 2023, and that I can keep the rest of whatever net profit is made each month. Knowing that going for option 1 is basically giving the lady staff, a two-year culinary graduate with no sufficient work background, much less managerial or leadership skills, do the task of running the entire business, I opted for option 2 and took on the challenge. But the initial ₱550,000 per month must increase by ₱50,000 every year. So, that will be ₱600,000 per month by 2024, ₱650,000 per month by 2025, and so on.
The franchising concept was finalized some months later but we never seriously pursued it because of certain issues, one of which is the VAT-exempt privilege given to Koko Buri. Any amendment to the original purpose of the business (in this case, expanding to franchising) will cancel the tax privilege. Eventually, as we were warned by CDC as early as 2022, the VAT-exempt privilege was taken away from most companies inside Clark, sometime around July of 2025.
The increase in raw material prices, coupled with the imposition of the 12% VAT on our menu prices by the start of 2026, as well as the increasing competition brought about by the opening of at least one new resto in Clark, on the average, every month have all contributed to lower sales. Still, despite all of these factors, we never failed to deliver the agreed upon net profit due to the owner every month. What did not materialize was the supposed increase of ₱50,000 per month every year starting on January 2024.
By 2026, the net profit that he was expecting should have been ₱700,000 per month, but we were stuck at ₱550,000 per month. After 2023, the excess profit trickled down. I shared almost 40% of the excess profit to the entire staff through what I call profit-sharing, from the manager to the guards and dishwashers. He never liked this idea of profit-sharing, but I did this for three straight years.
Prior to February 2023, all profit went straight to the owner. Nothing was kept and rolled back to the business, which has been the practice since Day 1 of the business. There were times that no profit was given to the owner, especially during the early years of the business when the two partners were hard-up due to the effects of their failed franchising program. However, when most of those franchising business issues were ‘solved’, and the other Korean left out of fear for his life from people who lost millions in the botched franchising business, I started to look after Koko Buri Clark with greater focus, started gaining momentum, resulting in profits of as much as ₱1 million a month on some months. There were months when the net profit given to the owner ranged from 100K to more than 500K.
During our last serious meeting early this year, the owner mentioned that he is not happy with the 550K anymore and that he wants 1M per month. I told him of my plan to reduce the serving size of the dishes and therefore lower the price to make Koko Buri pricing become affordable again. I also told him that I already attended a franchising business orientation given by Francorp and was ready to roll out the franchising business with their help, but he was not interested in hearing any of these.
What he really wanted was to replace my very abled and highly competent manager with his own favored staff. He had been suggesting this idea to me a long time ago and on several occasions, but I told him I am not amenable to it, as the person he has in mind is not trained to handle such task as running a restaurant as she only holds a two-year culinary course, compared to the current manager who graduated with the right degree (HRM).
During the meeting early this year, he made a proposal to me to buy his business. For 20M, he will leave everything to me --- the physical restaurant and everything in it. He said he will set-up a new resto concept. The second option is for me to buy the business (HBF International Corp.) for 5M but find another place to transfer the restaurant, as he will keep the resto at Pavilion 4 in Berthaphil to set up a new resto called The One Bowl. After discussing this offer with my wife, and seriously considering the two options, I decided that I will just retire since I was turning 60 in a couple of months at that time. He even asked me what will I do if I retire. He told me to consider putting up a branch of Koko Buri somewhere, which I said I will consider after a year.
Without formal communication between us after that meeting, we learned from nosy staff about their uncertain and sketchy plans. On February 20, 2026, I issued a notice in our FB page that we will be closing the resto by the 1st day of March, giving us nine days to say goodbye to our customers and to one another in the operations.
When Berthaphil learned of our plan to close the business, they asked for a meeting with me. I told them the facts of the matter and I was told that they (the ‘new management’) cannot continue the business anymore once I have surrendered the unit because Berthaphil will be constructing a new three-story building in its place, and since DBP (our neighbor) will also be vacating its place, Berthaphil can now build an L-shape building with ample parking space.
The Korean owner got a lawyer to work for him who is knowledgeable about Berthaphil’s affairs as he also works for them. When Berthaphil informed the Korean that they cannot continue the business with a different business name (The One Bowl), the Korean and his ‘minions’, with the help of their lawyer, worked to transfer the shares of stocks of the corporation to them. They asked me and the other four shareholders to sign the transfer of stocks to his two staff. When I consulted my lawyer-friend, he advised me to have the Korean pay the shares to me and the four others, even when I am aware that we are just dummies. The argument of my lawyer-friend is that if the business proves successful, I can demand for payment for those shares when the worth of those shares is already high. So, to make it fair, demand for a payment for the shares at that time when the amount being contested is still very low. The lawyer told me that the Korean declined the idea and that they will set up a new corporation, instead. The new management will probably open Koko Buri in September, with the two new ‘owners’. All the key staff of the old Koko (except for one, which is understandable) did not accept their invitation to re-join them as they cannot stomach the idea of working for them and the real owner.

I’m posting this update on what happened before we turn-over the FB page to them. It will most likely be deleted, but you have been informed."

Maraming nakaparada sa road papuntang Lapid Arena

Koko Buri Statement