Instead of asking restaurants to fund customer discounts, Grab Philippines paid the bill itself.
The company said its month-long campaign for select homegrown food merchants helped participating businesses attract more orders without absorbing the cost of promotions, offering some relief as rising ingredient and utility prices continued to put pressure on restaurant operating costs.
The initiative ran from May 21 to June 20 and was designed to help independent restaurants maintain customer demand at a time when many businesses were facing higher operating expenses. According to Grab, two in three participating merchants recorded higher order volumes during the campaign, with most posting double-digit growth. Among those that saw gains, orders increased by an average of 30%, while the fastest-growing merchants reported growth of between 145% and 158%.
“It’s easy to be a partner when times are good,” said Grab Philippines Chief Commercial Officer EJ dela Vega. “But with utility and ingredient costs spiking, the daily math just wasn’t making sense for our local merchants. They didn’t need business advice; they needed actual orders and protected margins. By shouldering the cost of demand-boosting initiatives and providing a concentrated lifeline for those hit hardest, our goal was simple: help them keep their doors open.”
Restaurant owners who joined the campaign said the support allowed them to participate in promotions they might otherwise have skipped.
“The rising price of ingredients, especially meat, makes it costly to join discount promos all the time,” said Joy Couture, owner of Harley’s Boulevard Motor Cafe in Davao. “Having Grab absorb the cost of this promo was a big help. It boosted our brand’s visibility on the app and helped improve our sales over the past month.”
Grab said the campaign forms part of its broader support for micro, small and medium enterprises, alongside digital skills training through Grab Asenso: Digital Diskarte Program and digital payment and promotion tools offered under Grab In-Store Solutions+.
