Food
TEN YEARS, seven branches, and countless satisfied customers—Hunger Buster has been a beacon of culinary comfort within and beyond the Ateneo for a decade, satisfying burger cravings in the heart of the day. Over the years, it has evolved from a student-run JSEC stall to a well-established business on and off campus.
Hunger Buster has overcome many challenges and embraced vital changes as it expanded into multiple branches across the country. Throughout the highs and lows of the business, its core mission is serving mouthwatering, healthier meals while fostering a sense of gratification.
Looking back at its milestones, Hunger Buster remains steadfast in their owner’s values and advocacies that uphold their mission. With every bite, it continues to craft a legacy of bringing people together, one burger at a time.
Burgers and beginnings
Hunger Buster’s journey began in 2014 as a JSEC Challenge contender. At a time when rice bowls dominated the campus food scene, they aspired to try something different. That was when they decided to serve up something new: burgers.
The team, made up of Eries Chan (BS MGT ‘15), JC Carlos (BS LM ‘15), Bret Monsanto (BS LM ‘15), Erika Cantor (BS LM ‘15), and Kenneth Chan (BS LM ‘15), turned to the internet for burger recipes, experimenting on different ways to cook the classic dish. With no prior culinary experience, they relied on their Google recipes in hopes of impressing customers and the judges during the food-tasting portion of the competition.
Unfortunately, Ateneans were not satisfied, and Hunger Buster found itself in the losing bracket of the JSEC Challenge. However, this setback marked the beginning of a comeback, as the food-tasting staff of the challenge recognized their potential and offered guidance. Through their help, the team refined its recipes, transforming them into something truly unique and delicious. With some luck and a newly improved burger, Hunger Buster won a second chance to officially open as a JSEC stall.
But just like many startups, the first day was far from the success they had envisioned. Hunger Buster’s initial sales were considerably lower than those of other stalls, which were generating profit in much higher figures.
Still, the team remained hopeful and persevered until their efforts began to pay off. Slowly but surely, sales began to climb and the stall was finally finding its momentum.
For Eries Chan, the current sole owner of Hunger Buster, their gradual success was certainly a validation of their hard work. Reflecting on his feelings, he said with a laugh: “I really don’t know—you really just have to wait!”
He emphasized that they stayed true to their original goals, maintaining the strategies they had executed from the beginning, such as their recipes, generous servings, and “sulit-ness.” The commitment to the team’s core strategy laid the foundation of their success, as it allowed customers to discover and appreciate the uniqueness of the stall. For Hunger Buster, waiting for Ateneans to discover these aspects was the key to their startup boom.
However, Hunger Buster’s growth is not a linear story, as health concerns, a commitment to environmental sustainability, and the challenges of the pandemic marked only the beginning of its journey.
Busting through
In its beginnings, much of Hunger Buster’s growth was propelled by its employees, who proved to be vital to the enterprise. Though the food stall’s roots stood firm in the Ateneo campus, its owners and staff agreed that the next step was expansion. In the next five years, Hunger Buster opened branches in universities and malls both within and beyond Metro Manila. Its community impact also flourished, largely due to Chan’s heart for community service, even as a student.
In his third year in Ateneo, around the same time he co-founded Hunger Buster, Chan connected with Cottolengo Filipino, a non-government organization providing residential care and rehabilitation to neglected persons with disabilities. As a way of “giving back to the community,” Chan and his employees reached out to Cottolengo Filipino’s beneficiaries five years later to bring some food to share.
Hunger Buster continued its steady growth in both entrepreneurial and social ventures until the COVID-19 pandemic, when its operations came to an abrupt standstill. Most of its previously thriving stalls closed—leaving its employees, many of whom had been with Hunger Buster since its opening, out of work.
Chan—already the business’ sole proprietor at the time—launched the Pledge-A-Burger initiative to support his employees throughout the pandemic. For every Php 100 donated, a burger would be given to a pandemic frontliner, while profits would be turned over to Hunger Buster’s employees. More than 2,000 burgers were donated to frontliners, and Php 150,000 was raised for its employees.
Eventually, as the Philippines slowly roared back to life from the pandemic, reopening Hunger Buster was not a simple task. Only stalls inside Ateneo and Xavier School remained, while the rest of its branches had shut down. “It was so hard to rebuild because I didn’t know […] if [my employees] were still willing to come back, and if the stalls that closed could still open,” Chan explained.
Rather than rushing to restore his earlier expansion efforts, Chan valued a gradual post-pandemic recovery that prioritized long-term survival over immediate sales figures. “I just had to make sure that the employees had a job,” he explained, ”and I’m making [enough money to be sustainable].”
The slow and steady post-pandemic approach appeared effective. As of November 2024, Hunger Buster has successfully reopened a total of ten stalls, with locations ranging from the Ateneo de Manila University all the way to Bonifacio Global City. Amid ever-changing JSEC stalls and Gonzaga newcomers, the beloved burger stall has reestablished itself as a constant presence in Atenean foodie culture.
This revival has not come without embracing a few changes along the way. In the middle of 2024, Hunger Buster’s burgers raised health concerns with the Office for Food Safety and Quality Assurance (OFSQA), resulting in the deferral of their application as a campus concessionaire for AY 2024–2025. To comply with the OFSQA’s initiative towards nutritional cafeteria options, Hunger Buster reformulated its decade-old burger recipe with leaner patties, less oil, and free vegetable options for all menu items.
While Chan admitted how stressful the reformulation was, he thanked the OFSQA for pushing him to create better, healthier products for the community. The new and improved recipes boosted Hunger Buster’s sales considerably, appealing to a demographic of health-conscious customers who had previously remained untapped.
Key ingredients to success
After a decade of serving hearty burgers and fostering connections, Hunger Buster attributes its longevity to three key ingredients: an employee-first philosophy, a commitment to continuous improvement, and an unwavering dedication to its core values.
From the outset, Hunger Buster’s employee-centered approach has been foundational. Chan credits the stall’s success to its loyal team, many of whom have stayed for nearly ten years. He shares that “Hunger Buster wouldn’t exist without them,” emphasizing that the employees have played a pivotal role in shaping the business’s identity. Even during the pandemic, Chan prioritized their welfare, underscoring his belief that a thriving business starts with a thriving team.
Equally vital is Hunger Buster’s philosophy of continuous improvement while serving the community, such as offering healthier options to its customers. This evolution reflects not just a savvy business decision, but a genuine desire to cater to the changing needs of their audience.
Beyond the burgers, Hunger Buster’s initiatives, such as visits to non-government organizations and pandemic relief efforts, reveal a broader mission to make a positive impact by paying it forward and giving back to the community.
At its core, Hunger Buster remains steadfast in staying true to its roots. This consistency, paired with their speedy cooking process, fills Ateneo’s spaces with an enticing aroma, cementing their relevance amid an ever-changing roster of campus stalls.
Moving forward, Hunger Buster plans to open new stalls in other cities to continue growing. This direction is reflective of Chan’s encouragement to aspiring entrepreneurs to seize opportunities and embrace persistence. “Wake up early and work hard,” he advises—a simple mantra that propelled Hunger Buster from its early struggles to its enduring success.
As Hunger Buster celebrates a decade of delicious memories, it stands as more than just a food stall—it embodies a story of grit, growth, and gratitude. The people behind Hunger Buster set an example for success that is about more than just great entrepreneurship, but also about the people and principles that make it all possible.
