Beginnings (19851999) Hailing from a
Chinese-Filipino family,
Robert Kuan graduated with an
MBA degree in 1975. He became the
CEO of
Ling Nam, a
Chinese restaurant in
Binondo,
Manila, partially owned by his family, and successfully expanded it into a small restaurant chain. Ling Nam, however, was plagued by family conflict. Kuan learned that the shareholders were planning to remove him from his position. Taking the advice of his friend
Henry Sy, Chowking Food Corporation was incorporated on February 19, 1985. The principal investors were Kuan, Jollibee founder
Tony Tan Caktiong and Wilson Chu. After two years, Kuan and Caktiong bought Chu's shares, so they each owned 50% of the company. The first Chowking opened on March 18, 1985, on the ground floor of
Rotary Arcade (now the site of
SM Makati) in
Makati Commercial Center,
Makati. In 1989, Chowking started a
franchise system which enabled them to enter new markets with limited resources. Its first franchise opened in the provincial town of
Meycauayan,
Bulacan. A
U.S. government report believed that Chowking was likely to succeed because Filipinos enjoyed Chinese cuisine and had a "newly-found concern for the clean, well-lit and quick service they provide." At the end of 1992, there were 21 Chowking locations. When Chowking expanded to
San Fernando, Pampanga, in 1997, many restaurants had to adjust their menus; for example, they now add sugar to their
siopao to resemble Chowking's. In late 1999, Kuan agreed to sell his 50% controlling share of Chowking Food Corporation to Caktiong, chairman of
Jollibee Group, for . In November, Chowking had 162 branches, including four in the United States and three in
Dubai.
The Wall Street Journal called it the Philippines' most successful Chinese food chain. In the 1990s, Chowking held the
naming rights to Chowking Fastfood Kings, a
Philippine Basketball League (PBL) team. The team gave
Leo Austria his big break as a coach in 1998, and included notable players such as
Roger Yap and
Chris Calaguio. After Jollibee acquired Chowking, the team was sold to
Shark Energy Drink ahead of the
2000–01 PBL season.
Jollibee (2000present) ,
Cebu Jollibee's acquisition of Chowking Food Corporation from its
holding company, Antares Holdings, Inc., was completed in March 2000. Rufino L. dela Rosa, Jollibee's
vice president, stated that the merger would cut down Chowking's supply, marketing and administrative expenses and maximize storage space, especially if new Chowking branches were built beside Jollibee's. From 2006 to 2008, Chowking invested ₱270 million in a modernization program which redeveloped their Noodle Building and increased the automation for the food
production lines of their two
commissaries. Located in
Muntinlupa, the commissaries also act as warehouses and distribution centers. In August 2010, Chowking was
rebranded with a new logo and slogan: "Tikman ang Tagumpay" (). In December 2023, the
Department of Labor and Employment in
Davao City were prompted to inspect a local Chowking after one of their employees posted a
viral TikTok. In it, she said that she had go door-to-door looking for customers to meet her daily quota. She also had to pay her own transportation fares. Social media users criticized Chowking, with some claiming that this was not an isolated case. == Foreign expansion ==