Aside from balancing their schoolwork and extra-curricular activities, another challenge that students face once they enter college is managing their expenses. Students’ allowances, whether they are given daily or weekly, will have to be allocated for different expenses, with a significant portion of it going to food. This is why it is important for students to have near their college campuses that offer affordable yet delicious meals that will fit their budget that they will keep coming back to.
And for the past decade, Urban Chick has done just that for many students in Quezon City, as the restaurant has given students budget-friendly yet sumptuous meals. What started as one mother’s desire to make nutritious and delicious meals for her own children has developed into a popular restaurant not just for students, but also for families looking for affordable yet quality food options in the Maginhawa area of Quezon City.
In an episode of Menu, Pls! on Plus Network, Urban Chick owner Jerecel Catherine Guiang shared its humble beginnings, its growth as a popular destination for students and families, and the legacy that she wants her restaurant to have.
Urban Chick began in the summer of 2013, but Guiang has long prioritized the food that her children eat. In order to be high-functioning citizens of the country, they need to put healthy and delicious foods into their bodies. According to Nina Guiang, Co-owner and social media manager of Urban Chick, it all started with friends and relatives complimenting their mother’s cooking and encouraging them to start a restaurant.
Jules Guiang, who is also Urban Chick’s co-owner, adds that from there, they shared not just her mother’s cooking to others, but also their own home, as the restaurant first started from their own garage as a hole in the wall. Now, their house is a full-blown restaurant serving not just students, but families, some of whom were also former students who now introduce a new generation of customers to Urban Chick.
Their network of customers has widened since their first began, but one thing that hasn’t changed is Urban Chick’s commitment to give customers affordable yet quality meals. Their bestsellers include a variety of meat dishes, such as chicken barbecue, beef, liempo, pancakes, burgers, and more which typically come with a cup of rice and a drink. Their BTS or Back To School meals, in particular, only cost P50-P95, well within the budget of most students.
For the restaurant’s chef Michael Buganon, while the price of the ingredients to their meals has increased, they still make sure to strike a balance between serving affordable and healthy meals, making sure that students in the area will have a go-to restaurant in the years to come.
Urban Chick Restaurant is located at 195 Maginhawa corner Makadios Streets, Sikatuna, Quezon City, Metro Manila. For more information, you can visit them on Facebook or Instagram.
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