THE BIGG MOVE : How a 38-year old Bicol-born restaurant pivoted from dine-in to digital

Words by Ryen Paul Sumayao I Photos courtesy of BIGGS

There’s a familiar plotline among stories of brands moving into the digital space: the need to scale up, expand its demographics, or make up for a cool portfolio. For 38-year-old Bicol-born restaurant chain BIGGS, it was simply to let its customers continue the dining experience at home.

2020, of course, played the key role: quarantine regulations kept everyone at home. This meant restaurants trying to thrive through a business model built around social interaction and the togetherness that ‘dining in’ actually is. With no clear timelines as to when customers would come back, restaurants scrambled to cut costs on all corners, grow their delivery segment, and even diversify their products.

But instead of simply looking for means to survive, BIGGS found a way to thrive. To do this, they didn’t look very far: it’s a picture of a BIGGS customer who’s alone in the kitchen. He’s looking through his fridge for an easy-prep, delicious, filling, comfort food that he can make with the help of a pan, an oven, or a grill. Along comes the bestselling Biggs Ready-To-Cook Ribs.

Half a year later, with over ten products and twelve more in the pipeline, the brand straddles the future by reigning in both the digital (with a vibrant e-commerce page) and retail spaces (being in over 50 stores in Metro Manila and Bicol).

While the product was already there—the Ribs being one of its flagship products for years— launching it in a platform so new and in a year so challenging was another story.

Here are five of the key steps in BIGGS’ successful pivot to e-commerce:

1 TALK TO YOUR CUSTOMERS

For BIGGS, it’s not only looking at past sales performances to determine which product to develop but to have its customers be product cocreators. Through surveys, focus group discussions, and interviews—all done online—BIGGS asked its customers how frequently they cook in a week, the food preparation methods they are looking for, even the flavor profiles they prefer.

2 INVEST IN CREATIVES

The e-commerce space is peppered with compelling visuals and rich content. The competition for attention is stiff. By having in-house teamwork with creative suppliers, BIGGS is able to come up with fresh content every time through its many social media platforms.

3 BUILD A RELATIONSHIP WITH AN ENABLER

Besides being a landscape for creatives, the e-commerce space requires efficiencies in logistics, inventory, web development, and operations. An enabler company builds these synergies within the team or outside to bridge these gaps.

4 AFTER BUILDING AN INCREDIBLE WEBSITE, INVEST IN PAID ADS

In many cases, the website will be very much like a physical store. It requires careful construction,

regular upkeep, and constant improvements. Driving customers to it is another story. Driving traffic through organic content works to some extent, but with tight competition coupled with continuous changes in social media algorithms, it’s going to be a slow burn. Paid ads ensure the visibility of your products to your target audiences and guarantee optimal sales conversion.

5 STRIKE A BALANCE BETWEEN WHAT YOU HAVE (BOTH PRODUCT AND DATA) AND WHAT YOUR CUSTOMERS LIKE

Fortunately, BIGGS already had a hero product in mind—the BIGGS Ribs. What needed to happen is to reformat this restaurant hit into something customers can prepare at home with limited tools. Data-driven decisions— supported by rich data found in its e-commerce systems—helped the brand make changes quickly. If there’s one learning that stood out in this movement from dine-in to digital, it was the importance of agility.

Biggs Ready To Cook is the restaurant chain’s retail arm and is a line of easy, ready-to-cook frozen versions of the brand’s bestsellers. It is owned and managed by BIGGS Inc and is present in over 50 supermarkets. In Manila, its digital distribution partner is Phenomenon Group Inc.

Check out BIGGS Ready To Cook on www. biggs.ph.

Here’s a video on how to cook the famous BIGGS ribs.