When Walther Buenavista started his shawarma stall at Tutuban Night Market, sales were painfully slow. He and his wife Patricia struggled to bring in customers, despite their best efforts.
“Mga P2,000 lang sa isang araw, parang nagpapagod ka lang,” Buenavista recalls.
At that rate, they were barely making enough to justify the effort. Every night, they would set up their stall, sell for hours, then pack everything up and bring it home again—only to repeat the same exhausting routine the next day.
With sales failing to pick up, the couple started questioning their path.
“Dapat susuko na nga kami kasi mahina yung benta namin,” he says.
They even considered quitting—Buenavista thought of driving a taxi while his wife planned to work at a call center. They decided to give it until December to see if things would improve.
Then, an idea changed everything.
The ‘Buy One, Take One’ Breakthrough
With nothing to lose, Buenavista decided to launch a bold promo:
“Ano kaya, i-buy one take one natin yung shawarma?”
It was a gamble, but one that immediately paid off. The next day, sales skyrocketed, and customers started lining up.
“Nung ginawa namin yun, biglang lumakas, ubos kaagad.”
Curious if it was a one-time fluke, they ran the promo again the next day—and got the same result.
“Ano kaya, ulitin natin?” he thought.
Day after day, the buy one, take one promo continued to attract more customers. From struggling to make P2,000 a day, their daily sales jumped to P15,000 to P20,000.
From Night Market to Nationwide Expansion
What started as a last-ditch effort to save a failing business turned into the foundation for Shawarma Shack, now one of the fastest-growing food brands in the Philippines.
Buenavista’s story proves that sometimes, one small idea is all it takes to transform a struggling business into a nationwide success.
This article includes quotes from an interview originally published by Esquire Philippines, authored by Henry Ong
