Angel’s Burger, a Filipino brand synonymous with “burger ng masa” (burger for the masses), marks today, Nov. 19, 25 years of trailblazing franchise business initiatives and serving more than 4.9 billion hamburgers around the country.

Vicky Mojica, co-founded Angel’s Burger with her husband, Joseph Mojica.

They started Angel’s in 1997 through the innovative and pro-masses “Buy One, Take One” scheme, and named the venture after their third child, Angelica or Angel.

A slot machine win in Las Vegas, USA, helped finance the startup business.

“With that unexpected winning, we decided to go back home and infuse the money to our business, Angel’s Burger, which has somehow survived despite the crisis,” said Joseph.

The business took on a new lease and Angel’s branches grew to over 1,000.

In 2003, it started franchising out stores. From its humble beginnings in Sikatuna Village in Quezon City, it transferred its operations to Concepcion Uno in Marikina City, and later to Parang, Marikina, in a state-of-the-art building complex with a manpower of 2,195 nationwide. The couple’s children - Cholo, Joma, and Angel are now running the day-to-day operations of the business.

“When we started Angel’s Burger, ang nasa isip namin is yung makapaghatid kami ng mura at masarap na pagkain sa tao. Parating sinasabi ng asawa ko, hindi baleng hindi ganun kalaki ang kita kasi kahit maliit lang, kung madami naman ang mabebenta mo, ayos na din yun. Kaya tuwing tinitingnan ko ang building namin where we hold our operations now, parang naiiyak ako. Kasi to be honest, hindi namin akalain na lalaki kami ng ganito” shares Vicky. (Our goal was to offer a cheaper but delicious burger alternative to the people, even if it means measly profit for us. Seeing our brand grow through these efforts through the years still bring tears to my eyes. We never expected the business to grow this big.)

The business continued to thrive for several years until the pandemic hit in 2020, which was a major setback for the company.

“Sa totoo lang, ang stores namin only closes two days in a year, tuwing Good Friday and December 31. Yun lang. (Our stores only close on Good Friday and New Year’s Eve) The rest of the year, we are open 24/7. When the pandemic hit, we had to close our stores for two months,” Vicky said.

“It’s the worst crisis we ever experienced, next to Ondoy. With Ondoy kasi, one day lang naman nangyari eh. Although it took us several weeks and months before we can fully recover, ang difference is, we started rebuilding day 1 after it happened. With the pandemic, we don’t know when it will end so we don’t know when we can start all over again,” shares Vicky.

By May of 2022, the Marikina local government gave the go signal for Angel’s to reopen its stores and had since regained its footing, serving burgers, sausages, and its latest offering – the Chori Burger.

“Ako kasi naniniwala ako na sa lahat ng bagay na gagawin mo, dapat ilagay mo ng buong buo ang puso mo. Kasi kung mahal mo ang ginagawa mo, hinding-hindi ka magkakamali,” said Vicky. (It has been my belief that when you give your whole heart to anything that you do and if you love what you are doing, you will never fail.)