Here at ChatGenie, one of the many things that keep us going is the thought of empowering local business owners. With that in mind, we created the MSME Booster Program to help boost businesses of all sizes and industries by giving them a chance to optimize their eCommerce with us for free. In this series, we’ll be taking a look at some of our favorite MSME merchants and how they have fared since they’ve been #PoweredByChatGenie. We’ll be starting the series with Yes Efren’s Special BBQ, a homegrown classic that has almost 30 years of history to back it up.

What began as a straightforward BBQ joint in Cainta, Rizal, has grown into a full-service grill restaurant with a reputation for its juicy, tender BBQ. A food-lover at heart, Robert Florante founder started with only P300 in capital to buy meat and ended up turning it into a bustling BBQ business. Their selection of Filipino soul food has surely made a name for them, even nabbing them a spot on Karen Davila’s My Puhunan. With nearly three decades of experience under his belt, he wasn’t about to let anything put a stop to that. 

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Try Yes Efren’s Special BBQ yourself! Order here now.

http://m.me/YesEfrensSpecialBBQ

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Once the pandemic hit, they knew they couldn’t just stand by and wait for times to normalize. After deciding to shift the focus on online sales, they didn’t just survive but thrived in a time when businesses were shutting down left and right. After making the transition, their efforts paid off and resulted in a 500% increase in sales. With sales from online marketplaces booming, they also started to sell frozen versions of their specialties in local grocery stores. Yes Efren’s Special BBQ truly makes the case for how innovation can make or break your business: a perfect example of turning lemons into lemonade. 

With the sudden surge of online orders made on food delivery apps and their social media pages, there was a lot to be said about the difficulty of juggling their offline operations and online transactions. We spoke to Marketing Manager Robert Florante and found out he was struggling to keep up with the demands of their online sales while handling his responsibilities as a manager. He did everything manually: from answering social media inquiries to relaying details for order fulfillment. While they were happy about the interest drummed up by online marketplaces, actually coping with the traffic online also became an obstacle they needed to overcome to grow the business.    

After learning about ChatGenie’s MSME Booster Program, Robert decided to take a shot at the multi-commerce business tool, hoping to find an easy way to turn social media followers into customers. In less than three months, Yes Efren’s Special BBQ was already able to convert their page visitors into loyal customers and receive repeat orders on their Messenger In-App Commerce store - all with no commission! With ChatGenie, they were also able to strengthen their brand recall and recognition.

"Naaalala nila yung brand name. Kapag sa mga online marketplace, BBQ lang yung naaalala pero kung dito, direct so Yes Efren's Special BBQ talaga.”

However, what really impressed Robert about the new multi-commerce tool is how efficient his workflow became thanks to automated ordering right in their social media messaging thread. Now, he can focus on more important tasks and even get help from his team thanks to the multiple team member feature on the ChatGenie Dashboard. Every time an order comes in, the team is notified directly so they can get started on making the orders without him having to relay it. Robert is also comforted by the fact that ChatGenie has dedicated a Customer Success Manager to help solve issues as soon as they arise. Having chosen ChatGenie over other similar services in the market, he is happy to be part of the budding ChatGenie community and wants other business owners to give it a try too!

“Time-saving, hassle-free, assists with teamwork, helpful after-sales. Marami akong nakita na Mini App [online store] sa market pero pinili ko si ChatGenie.“

If you haven’t invested in In-App Commerce yet, 2023 is the perfect time. Sign up now for your very own In-App Commerce store here: www.chatgenie.ph

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