Reports of the death of the food retail industry have been greatly exaggerated. The retail food business continues to thrive in the Philippines. While the industry remains competitive, your approach must be different. Focus on food concepts that have a ready market, favorable food cost and do not require large startup capital.

20 Small Food Ideas with Small Capital Requirement in the Philippines

1. Hamburgers

Hamburgers remain the most popular food item in the Philippines, and it is easy to understand why.

  • You can eat it as a main meal or a snack
  • Hamburgers best represent our taste for American food
  • You can have it in a variety of ways and a number of flavors

As a business, hamburgers can be a high-profit venture. Take a look at the food cost if I were to make a hamburger at home:

Cost of 140 grams Patty: 25.9 Pesos per 140 grams (raw)

Hamburger Buns: 5 Pesos per piece

Seasonings (30 grams): 5 Pesos

Total Cost: 35.90

Suggested Retail Price: 90 Pesos

Profit Margin: 39.8%

The best hamburgers are not grilled; they’re pan-fried on a flat griddle because they cook in their juices.

If you plan your service properly, you could generate high volume because burgers can be cooked within 5 minutes. The hamburgers can be packaged in wax paper.

You will only need two assistants. The second one will come in only during peak hours.

The price for the raw patty is based on the current retail price of 185 pesos per kilo. If you buy wholesale, you can lower the price by 20% and improve your profit margin by 6%!

Hamburgers are one of the best small food business ideas!

Related: Top 10 Online Food Business Ideas in the Philippines

2. Fried Chicken and Rice

Fried Chicken is a close second to hamburgers as the most popular food item in the Philippines. It is another viable small food business idea.

As a business, it also presents an opportunity to make a good profit. Here is the food cost for a one-piece chicken meal with rice:

Cost of One Piece Chicken: 18.50 Pesos

Breading: 5 Pesos per piece

Condiments (30 grams): 5 Pesos

Rice (100 grams): 5 Pesos

Total Food Cost: 33.50 Pesos

Suggested Retail Price: 85 Pesos

Profit Margin: 39.4%

You do not need a deep fryer to cook the chicken. A cast iron pot works the best. You can re-use the oil but filter it every night.

If you want to serve fried chicken fast but crispy, pre-fry it under low-medium heat for 5 minutes. Set it aside. Once a line starts forming, fry upon order on high heat.

You’ll have juicy, crispy fried chicken served every 5 minutes! Your turnover will be fast and volume will be high.

3. Hotdog Stand

The good thing about hotdogs, aside from being a low food cost item, is that you can serve it a variety of ways:

  • As a sandwich
  • With rice
  • On a stick
  • As a corndog

Like the hamburger, you can have a hotdog with a meal or as a snack. You can either steam the hotdog or pan fry it.

4. Flavored French Fries

French fries are a very popular snack. I’m surprised there aren’t many French fries proprietors considering this offers excellent profit margins.

Many of the French fries proprietors I’ve spoken to have their materials imported from Australia. The potatoes are delivered frozen. In fact, you can buy these brands at your local supermarket.

But you can make better French fries from scratch!

All you need are Russet Burbank potatoes which you can readily find in supermarkets. Here’s how you can French fries at home:

  • Slice the potatoes into any style you want; julienne is the standard. You can buy table mounted potato slicers for US$ 60. Instant julienne-cut potatoes with one stroke!
  • Soak them in water overnight to remove excess starches (the secret to making them crispy).
  • Fry them for 5 minutes under low to medium heat; set them aside.
  • When there is an order, fry under high heat and serve when golden brown.
  • Salt and pepper to taste. Do you want fries like Iron Chef Bobby Flay? Add chili powder.

The food cost is so much lower! That’s why in fine dining restaurants, chefs prefer to cook fries from scratch.

You don’t need a deep fryer. A deep pan or a Wok would do. I shake my head whenever I hear a fast food manager tell me their fries are expertly cooked because the fryer has a computer.

You don’t need a computer to tell you if your fries are cooked. You just need a good set of eyes!

5. Coffee Stand

There are many ways to have a coffee stand business:

  • Sign up with a supplier of a coffee vending machine
  • Sell packets of instant coffee
  • Brew your coffee

I see many homeowners whose houses are located on the main road convert their ground floor into coffee shops. It is a good, low-cost venture for the following reasons:

  • Food cost of coffee is very low. Coffee retailers sign a supply contract with importers and can buy their materials at greatly discounted prices.
  • Percentage of food wastage is very low. If properly stored, coffee beans will last a long time. Condiments can be pre-packed and stored easily.
  • Although the cost of an espresso maker is high, some suppliers will agree on a lease to own arrangement. You can pay them out from your sales.
  • You can serve cakes and pastries on consignment. One of my friends consigns his cakes with a popular coffee franchise. The coffee shop only pays him for what is sold.

The only problem with a coffee business is low turnover. People tend to nurse their coffee for hours especially if you have wifi.

6. Soft Serve Ice Cream

Soft Serve ice cream is just powdered mix and water. The cost of mixture averages 2.5 Pesos to 5 Pesos per serving. Suppliers will give you a good discount depending on the volume of orders.

Waffle cones will not cost you more than 5 Pesos. If you want to improve your profit margin, make the waffle cones yourself.

So the convenience stores which sell soft serve ice cream for 15 Pesos to 25 Pesos are doing good business!

The Soft Serve Maker is very expensive. But you can enter into a payment agreement with the supplier.

7. Dimsum Stand

A dimsum stand is sure to attract a steady stream of patrons every day. Just observe the dimsum businesses in the mall or the MRT stations. Every outlet regardless of the brand has long queues.

There aren’t many ways you can prepare siomai. The differences between proprietors come down to only three things:

  • Variety
  • Portions
  • Sauces and toppings

But pork siomai remains the most popular. Filipinos do not care how you make them as long as you have soy sauce, calamansi and chili garlic available.

You only need a steamer. The siomai can be prepared beforehand and kept in the refrigerator.

This is a high turnover business with high-profit margins and low incidence of wastage.

8. BBQ

Drive by Dona Soledad in Paranaque and you will see a BBQ stand in almost every street corner. One proprietor I spoke to claims he sells 250 sticks or makes 5,000 Pesos every night. He operates from 6 pm to 12 am.

Perhaps his numbers are accurate because I could not buy from him as all the BBQ he was grilling were already reserved!

The BBQ sticks are cooked on a make-shift griller and over charcoal. This reduces the need for a gas tank.

For sure, you do not need large capital to start a BBQ business. Food cost will depend on where you source your material. But Kasim is an inexpensive cut of pork.

Related: Top 10 Street Food Business Ideas in the Philippines

9. Fish Balls

The fish ball should already be included as a regular staple in the Filipino diet as many line up for this tasty treat!

The retail price is only 5 to 6 Pesos per stick but the fish ball vendor near our place says he nets 500 to 1,000 Pesos every day after paying off his supplies and rent for the cart.

It is a tough job as the fish ball vendor regularly moves his cart from one place to the next and works from 9 am to 10 pm, seven days a week.

You can also set up a stall in a high traffic location or make packaged, frozen fish balls for retail distribution.

10. Home-Made Cookies

The great thing about having a home-made cookies business is that you only make them upon receiving advance orders. This allows for efficient use of gas and other cooking equipment and reduces the risk of wastage.

You would need to spend for attractive packaging material and extensive marketing.

You should have a website, dedicate time to promoting your products on social media, produce and distribute flyers. Business should be brisk on Christmas and New Year.

11. Cotton Candy Stand

Cotton candy is just powdered sugar mixed with food coloring and artificial flavoring. It is very low food cost, and retailers sell these from 10 Pesos to 20 Pesos per stick.

Filipinos have a sweet tooth and at these low prices, you can be assured of good steady clientele every day.

Many vendors lease out these cotton candy machines. Some include the ingredients and supplies with the package.

12. Snow Cone

This iconic childhood dessert staple has been reinvented over and over again. We’ve seen different versions of the snow cone but after initial success, they eventually melt away from our consciousness.

The problems have to do with pricing and the quality of the ice.

The snow cone is a very simple item. All you need is finely shaved ice and flavored syrup. Many of the incarnations are too fancy and become expensive. Some of the toppings are seasonal, and the quality’s hard to maintain.

If you want a memorable snow cone invest in an ice shaver; one that can make ice shavings with the texture of the powder. Flavored syrup has a generic taste. If you want to differentiate your product, add condensed milk like they do in Hawaii.

13. Noodles Stand

Filipinos continue to patronize noodle shops. You can pass by any noodle shop or Pares stand, and the stalls are always busy.

Noodles can be eaten as a full meal or as a snack. It is filling and comes with chicken, beef, pork or dumplings. It is a low food cost item. Noodles are an inexpensive ingredient, and a typical bowl does not contain much meat and vegetables.

The key is to prepare a good broth. If you have a recipe for broth, you can make a huge batch and store the rest safely in the freezer to retain its freshness.

A noodle operation is purely food preparation as the ingredients have already been cooked ahead of time. It’s an assembly line style of operation that guarantees fast service and high turnover.

14. Frozen / Packaged Pizza

Frozen / packaged pizza is becoming a popular snack for students of all ages. In my son’s school, the carinderia almost always runs out of packaged pizza before 5:00 pm. I see moms buying boxes of these pizzas before going home.

This is a low food cost business that you can run from your home. The ingredients for pizza are inexpensive: flour, tomato sauce, cheese, assorted cold cuts and seasonings. Do you want pizza sauce? Add thyme and oregano to tomato sauce.

These packaged pizzas do not use mozzarella cheese but cheddar or quick melt cheese which brings down food cost further. You can pre-bake these pizzas and freeze them to retain freshness.

Your recurring expense here will be the packaging materials. You can distribute these frozen/packaged pizzas to schools, offices, coffee shops, gas stations, hospitals and grocery stores.

15. Empanadas

Empanadas are another popular snack that is easy to make. Some empanadas are baked to be healthier, but there are also empanadas that are fried.

Similar to frozen / packaged pizza, you can make empanadas from home. But you cannot pre-bake or pre-cook them. These have to be cooked on sight or upon receipt of delivery.

If you are planning to set up a stall, you will need to cook only enough for a few hours at a time.

Empanadas can get too chewy in texture if left on display for a long time. You will have to microwave or toast the empanadas before serving.

You can make a business distributing packaged empanadas to different retailers or residences.

16. Rice Toppings

When it comes to rice, almost any kind of topping will do for hungry customers. Rice is a low-cost food item. 100 grams of Premium Dinorado rice will only cost you 4.2 Pesos.

The popular toppings are likewise low food cost items that you can make per batch. By distributing the rice bowl items you sell, you can further lower down your food cost and improve your profit margin.

17. Mexican Tacos

I’m surprised there aren’t many proprietors of Mexican food. Tacos, burritos, and enchiladas are popular with Filipinos and are inexpensive to make.

You can add ground pork to ground beef to lower the cost of the filling then make your taco shells and tortilla wraps. Quick Melt cheese or Cheddar cheese can be used as toppings.

Salsa is a low food cost item that will come out to under 5 pesos per serving. The key ingredient in salsa is the cilantro, and you don’t need much to give it great flavor. You can skip on the corn kernels.

For the meat filling, the most important seasonings are cumin and chili powder. If you have these ingredients, your meat filling will have authentic Mexican flavor that will be affordable and still net good margins.

18. Roasted Chicken

Roasted chicken stalls started out in the mid-1980’s. I still remember being able to afford an entire “Lechon Manok” with my measly allowance!

Things are different now; the Lechon Manok or roasted chicken is double the cost, but it is still very affordable and popular with consumers.

Chicken is an inexpensive food item. The best-sized chickens to use are those that weigh 1.2 kilos because it loses 20% of its size during the roasting process. A 1.2-kilo chicken will cost you 118 or lower if you buy it at wholesale or through a supplier arrangement.

The chickens are marinated in batches which on average will cost 5 Pesos of mixture per whole bird.

The best roasted chickens are cooked over charcoal. You don’t need any fancy equipment except a grill and a spit roast that can be rotated manually by your cook. And because these are cooked outdoors, you don’t need an exhaust system.

You can also add roasted pork belly or “liempo” into the product line.

19. Panciteria

“Pancit” are also a longtime favorite dish among Filipinos. Our love for pancit is linked with our Chinese heritage and belief that eating these noodles will result in a long life!

While I don’t believe in this superstition, I do believe that a panciteria is a good small food business idea. There is a market for the product, you can make it from home, and it is popularly ordered for parties, events, and other gatherings.

You can start out your panciteria as a purely delivery business. Then if your reputation becomes widespread, then you can explore the possibility of opening a standalone restaurant with takeout and delivery service.

20. Native Delicacies

Another tried and tested small food business idea is making native delicacies like kutsinta, puto, bibingka, suman, cassava cake and sapin sapin. These can be made at home and can be sold through a distribution channel, special deliveries or in a small stall.

Although native delicacies or kakanin are popularly associated with Christmas and New Year, they have a good following year-round. I normally visit food expos in different venues and note the high volume of customers patronizing our kakanin.

Start Your Small Food Business

Take a look around you. More new food concepts are opening up in malls, neighborhoods and along the main thoroughfares. The ones that succeed are the concepts which operate with good profit margins.

Related: How to Start a Small Food Business in the Philippines

Here are three valuable tips you should consider when thinking of your small food business idea:

  1. Don’t go to the malls; its rental structure will kill you. The general rule to maintain a healthy net profit margin is to keep rent below 20% of gross revenues. Malls will charge rent calculated 34% of gross sales or a fixed rate whichever is higher. Sign up with a mall and only Mr. Mall Developer will be rich and happy.
  1. Never compromise quality! Always buy good, quality ingredients. There is a limit to how low you can reduce food cost. Don’t run your business like some low-cost food stalls that buy “double dead” meat. Buy fresh ingredients at wholesale markets every day. As Anthony Bourdain said when describing Brazil’s humble dish “Feijoada,” “good food does not need expensive ingredients.”
  1. Always provide great service. When you are running a food business, customers will continue to patronize you not just because of the quality of food but also the service. Keep in mind that dining should be an experience. Serve food hot, fresh and fast and always keep your establishment clean!

With these valuable tips in mind, start planning your small food business idea while you are still months away from Christmas and the New Year!