r/BusinessPH

I did a 3+ year study on 5000 business across the Philippines with ACTUAL monthly revenue. This is what I learned:

1. Cafes have the highest failure rates. The small / aesthetic cafes outside business districts that look great in photos is probably going to fail.

2. - office workers are your life line. > they are your repeat customers

3. - coffee is low order value and usually only ordered once

4. - medium to high rent

5. - relatively high initial investment since customer judge you by your coffee machine.

6. - you’ll need a food program to increase your order value per customer which means additional equipment and investment

&gt;> yes this includes milk tea shops <<

Let me know in the comments if you guys want more insights or advice

I’ve been thinking that my supplier might be charging me too much. Instead of continuing to search on Alibaba, I’m considering going to China in October to meet factories directly and find manufacturers that could work with me long-term.

Do you happen to know anyone who could help with translation and negotiation while I’m there? If not, do you have any suggestions on how I could find someone reliable? I’m basically looking for an “ambassador” or local guide who can help me navigate everything.

How much did your total startup cost end up being, Including the kiosk construction and everything, how is the business going so far, and realistically how long did it take or will it take to get your ROI? And from your experience do you think it is still worth it to franchise K-Egg today?

Who's willing to pioneer in a mobile booking app for Filipino service providers? We're a tech company who has developed 50+ successful projects — custom software, apps and websites. Our flagship is our mobile booking app for Filipino service providers 🇵🇭 where you can sign up as a Neopreneur and earn by enlisting service providers, download app, and so on

Hello. I want to hear advice, stories, anecdotes from people who are or have been in the same/similar situation (and honestly be friends/can u be my mentor huehue). I just want to know it can be done, you know?

I'm in my 30s, married, thinking of having kids. My family is filchi af: think hardware in the province, paper receipts, manual everything, no existing inventory nor SOPs, all the important work revolves around me, my parents, and my younger sibling. The business can't be open without a minimum of two of us there, and even then, the two left are left very tired end of day. Fairly traumatic childhood, toxic parents. Overall parents are still in the business and are micromanagers.

For some context: dad is a typical filchi and wants to work til he can't anymore but he's 70ish already. Unlimited drive to work but has no vision to set up systems that don't revolve around the family. He does not work smart, just hard. Mom wants the business to stay small forever so that she lives a simple life (she says tswe ka siew so much it's a trigger phrase for me at this point). My younger sibling has been floundering for years now and although there's been *some* progress, I can't wait another 5-10 yrs for him to get his shit together.

I've spent my 20s just trying to improve things little by little, but progress has been slow because of the ff reasons:

1. We are so bogged down by the dailies (cashiering, endless checking of goods that go out ourselves, checking bank deposits, etc) we don't have time to think big picture nor plan and act for it

2. I regret this a lot now, but in my 20s, whenever I tried to suggest things that can permanently improve the fambiz, my mom would put me down and I wouldn't push through since I know she'd rag/get mad at me if I did. I wish I did it anyways earlier but it took me years of therapy to be in the headspace that I am in now.

I have been married for a few years. My husband also has a family business so malabo namang he helps with ours. I think theirs is bigger than ours pa nga, it's just that it's been properly set up so they're not bogged down in the daily. He's a city boy through and through so we've been in a half ldr half of the work week since we got married. We're now thinking about kids and he's told me he'd want me to be more around if we did. I don't think it's sustainable for me to still be in the family business in this capacity if we did have kids. We also started our own business on top of that and it seems quite promising. It's not been much easier to grow since it's just us deciding things and no parents to answer to.

My husband tells me I can just leave if I'm really miserable here. Hell even my parents say so (they only agreed to me leaving once I got married btw, the patriarchy), that they'll try to make it work but otherwise isasara na lang raw nila yung business. They tell me that after raising me on guilt and shame. The business makes good money but I don't want to be bogged down by it. It does make me miserable on the daily but I dislike giving up without a fight.

I've told myself I'll try systemizing/overhauling the family business within 2 years. Til 2027. If it doesn't work out, imma bounce. I can't keep wasting my years on this. Idk I'm scared and stressed out about this decision. I'm posting now to hear if anyone's been in the same predicament as me before. I just want to know it's possible, you know? Or am I wasting my time and I should just focus on our own fledgling business and family? I also feel like if I quit, my parents would disown me. Is that even a bad thing if they're toxic though?

Tldr: ang hirap maging filchi mamser. Pagod na aq. Asking for stories to give me hope.

I've been interviewing small store owners — hindi yung mga may cash registers and barcode scanners. Yung sari-sari stores, carinderias, tindahan sa bahay where one person does everything: handles customers, nag-oorder ng stocks, and nagbibilang ng pera at the end of the day.

Three interviews done so far. One of them was my own mom.

Here's what I kept hearing: alam nila na may kita sila. Alam nila na may gastos. Pero wala silang paraan to find out if they actually made money that week. It's all estimates lang. "Mga ganito siguro."

So why aren't they using the apps that already exist? Hindi kasi sila tech-averse — lahat sila aktibong gumagamit ng GCash and Messenger every day.

Three problems I found:

1. Everything is in English — Loyverse, most POS apps. Hindi sila nag-iisip sa English.
2. Wrong input moment — Existing apps expect you to log every transaction in real time, habang hawak mo pera, habang may customer. Not realistic.
3. Wrong output — Charts and dashboards ang ibinabalik. Pero yung tanong nila every night is one lang: "Kumita ba ako?"

My hypothesis: if you remove all three friction points at the same time, you make something possible na hindi pa nila nagagawa.

The MVP I want to test: two inputs lang at the end of each day — Gastos (magkano ang ginastos) and Kita (magkano ang nakolekta). One output: Kumita ka or Lugi ka, with the peso amount. Sa Filipino. Wala nang iba.

Hindi pa ako nagbubuilt ng app. Testing ko muna ito manually with my mom using a Google Sheet — just to find out if gagamitin ba niya talaga nang consistent. That's the real unknown.

Tanong ko sa inyo: do you know any tindero/tindera in this situation? Or based on your experience, may mali ba sa reasoning ko?

Sa ngayon, ang app ko nakikipag-compete pa sa whiteboard at notebooks ng mga small hotels para sa booking management. Aminado ako na hindi ito yung main problem na gusto kong i-solve, kasi parang “vitamin” lang yung dating ng solution.

Ang talagang gusto kong buuin is channel manager. Yung automatic mag-sync ng bookings across Agoda, Booking.com, Airbnb, etc. Kasi firsthand ko na-experience yung sakit ng double bookings dahil may guesthouse din kami. Habang dumadami yung OTAs na sinalihan, mas nagiging magulo kapag manual lahat.

Ang problema, hindi basta-basta nakakakuha ng direct partnership sa mga OTAs. Kailangan dumaan sa third-party API providers, at nasa around ₱7k–₱8k/month yung cost.

Nag-ask ako ng advice kay ChatGPT, tapos sabi niya kailangan ko muna i-validate kung may willing talagang magbayad bago ko ituloy. Gets ko naman yung point. Pero sa experience ko rin, hindi reliable ang “interested ako” ng property owners. Marami nagsasabing gusto nila, pero iba pa rin kapag oras na mag-subscribe.

Ngayon, iniisip ko kung worth it bang i-risk yung monthly cost para makapag-launch agad. Based sa pricing ko, kailangan ko ng at least 4 paying customers para ma-break even sa API cost pa lang.

Kung kayo nasa position ko, itutuloy niyo ba agad?

Sa mga curious, eto ang PMS ko: https://www.gooverbooked.com/

Hi, we’re cafe owners, and I’m looking for a POS with an inventory system. Can you recommend one that’s user-friendly and has a good interface? We’re currently using Loyverse, but as our sales grow, I want to automate everything more so we can focus on other aspects of the business. Thank you in advance. 😉

good day,! I’m currently looking for a vape supplier (wholesale) not to resell it, planning po kasi na i giveaway sa birthday ko specifically yung Black Elite 12000. actually, may nakita na ko na supplier i want to buy kasi 10pcs. Ask lang if pricey yung ₱3,200 set na sya. yun lang po thank you!

for context, nag-start ako small business with branded overruns being my product. kaso an hour na posted and wala manlang bumili or nag-mine huhu. paiyak na ako talaga😢😢

For those who's in Trucking business kumikita pa ba kayo? Recently bought a 16ft close van thru financing tapos biglang nagtaas yung presyo ng diesel. Grabe pala talaga yung stress. Btw, I am 26 yrs old working abroad and father ko yung driver. May pondo pa na 45 days, buti na lang kinakaya ng paycheck ko yung monthly amortization tapos yung allowance ng truck sa diesel at pambayad sa pahinante. I'm so lost kung itutuloy pa kasi parang wala namang kita.

Edit: Subcon lang kami and really don't have a lot of knowledge about this stuff (pls don't bash). Can someone pls give any advice or tips kung ano dapat malaman sa ganitong business.

I’m currently working full-time but want to start something on the side. Main concern is burnout. I don’t want to quit too early, but also don’t want to stretch myself too thin. For those who did both, how did you manage your time realistically?

Hi everyone,

Trying my luck here baka may willing mag-share ng experience or mentorship about starting a trucking business in the Philippines, especially those na nagsimula talaga sa 1 truck setup.

I have reached out to a few trucking operators directly pero I completely understand na busy rin sila with operations. I’m also aware of the DTI Supply Chain and Logistics programs and I plan to reach out to them separately as well.

Right now, I’m mainly looking for practical insights sana about:

• how you started
• common beginner mistakes
• securing clients/contracts
• operations and dispatching
• driver management
• maintenance realities
• cash flow challenges
• and generally kung ano yung “I wish I knew earlier” lessons

I’m based in QC but willing to travel if may opportunity to meet or even just observe operations for a day. Sagot ko na rin po meryenda syempre. 😄

Not looking for shortcuts — gusto ko lang talaga matuto from people who actually built it from the ground up.

Would appreciate any advice, referrals, or even recommendations on where to start properly. Thank you!

Hi! We’re a start-up food bazaar merchant serving Filipino merienda and recently joined a running event. The organizer mentioned that around 6,000–7,000 participants were registered, so we prepared enough food for at least 600 customers — which, in hindsight, was our first mistake.

We also sponsored meals for the entire staff/crew and for the event winners in exchange for exposure.

In return, they provided one promotional post on both Facebook and Instagram, plus an email blast. During the event, they also announced that there were only three merchants available for post-run meals, including us.

Unfortunately, sales did not go as expected. There were too many sponsors around the venue, and the area was very open, so not all participants were able to pass by our booth.

A lot of runners also assumed we were giving away free food because our booth was placed beside two sponsor booths, one of which was distributing free snacks.

Our booth fee was ₱25k (discounted because of the sponsored meals): ₱15k paid before the event, and ₱10k to be settled during or after the event. We’re still waiting for their message whether to fully settle the remaining balance based on the outcome of the event.

Would love to know your trusted organizers, recommended bazaars or running events, and locations with good foot traffic for food merchants. We’d really appreciate any advice or experiences you can share as we continue learning and growing in this industry. :)

It's been happening a lot in our store. I know you cant avoid makikiupo for like 15mins max but.... some people really work and study pa nga sa tables for hours without buying anything.

Business owners, how do you deal with this situation?

Hello! I'm a small online business and nung January this year ay naghire ako ng helper. Ang salary niya every day ay 600-700 pesos. Free lunch and meryenda ako nag-aasikaso at ligpit. Minsan nauuna ako matapos kumain pero naghuhugas ulit ako nung pinagkainan niya kasi iniiwanan niya lang. Di siya nagkukusa na hugasan kahit baso lang niya. Pinapauwian ko rin siya ng pagkain at mga gamit.

Lately lagi na siyang late at di nagsasabi agad kung di papasok. 10 am - 5 pm lang pasok niya sakin tapos on-call na duty since part-time job ito. 12noon - 1pm ay lunch break tapos 3:00 - 3:45 pm ay meryenda.

Hindi ko alam kung valid ba na minsan naiinis ako kasi gusto ko man lang sana ligpitin niya pinagkainan niya. 🥹.

Paano po kaya makakahanap ng maayos na helper? Thank you kung may makakapansin ng post ko.

Sa mga nagtry na magbusiness sa ibang country, Mas madali ba magnegosyo sa ibang lugar? Realtalk I'm close to giving up on our country.

Recurring discussion yung mga foreign investors choosing to do business elsewhere despite lots of Filipinos being able to speak english.

If youve tried business elsewhere, What was your experience?