SPECIAL REPORT
Tough times force families to cut back on expenses
By Vangie Baga-Reyes
Philippine Daily Inquirer
First Posted 02:41:00 09/23/2008
Filed Under: Economy, Business & Finance
MANILA, Philippines—Every weekend, Chelyn Santos and husband Arnold would treat their three young children to the mall, capping the day with a meal at a fast-food chain.
That was a year ago. Now, as tough times set in and belts are tightened, the family barely goes out to eat. The weekly "spree" has become a once-a-month occasion—only during the couple’s payday.
“My kids (ages 11, 9 and 5) only eat fried chicken from fast-food stores,” says Chelyn, an employee of the Bank of the Philippine Islands’ credit-card division.
“We used to order two pieces of chicken with rice for each of my kids, which cost about P125 per order. Now, they only get one piece with rice for only P80. No more extra rice for them,” she says.
Just leftovers
Chelyn says sometimes she and her husband, who is an account executive at Moldex Realty, just eat the leftovers of the kids.
“Or, we just add an order of a cheaper food like spaghetti for both us. We used to spend more than P500 for a lunch before. Now it’s like P300 or less,” she says.
If the budget is too tight, the Santos family grabs hotdog sandwiches from a food stall at the mall.
She says times are tough that her family must find ways to save money. “We don’t want to keep the kids at home all the time. Nakakaawa naman (I feel sorry for them). What we do is we eat lunch at home then we go out. We’re back home before dinner,” she says.
Chelyn says this has saved her family some money. “We’ve already stopped watching movies, which is so expensive these days,” she adds.
Joy Itona Tandog, a sales account manager of an Internet/cable company, feels the same way. Because of high food prices, she limits eating out with her three daughters (ages 11, 9 and 5) to once a month.
“I only bring them to fast-food places where there are play areas so they can eat and play at the same time,” says Tandog, who, like the Santos couple, eats her kids’ leftover food in order to save.
Tuition drains savings
Her three kids used to study at a Catholic school in Regalado, Fairview, Quezon City, each paying tuition of P38,000.
“We spent about P114,000 per school year for their education. It was draining our savings, if there were any,” says Tandog, whose husband, Ojie, left in January to work as a salesman in an insulation-distribution company in Saudi Arabia.
Her husband had an off-and-on job so he decided to work abroad. This year she transferred the children to a much smaller school with tuition totaling P30,000 for all three.
Tandog has a take-home pay of about P13,000 a month, which literally disappears before her eyes the moment she apportions expenses for the electric and water bills, kids’ transportation service, school projects and housemaid salary.
“There are times when we are left with no money to buy food,” Tandog says. “It’s a good thing I live with my in-laws, so they share us some food.”
‘Adobo’ morning, noon, night
When preparing food for the family, Tandog considers saving energy and gas as well. If she cooks chicken adobo in the morning for her kids’ baon (packed food) for school, the adobo will also be the family’s lunch and dinner for that day.
“We eat less meat now and we have stopped drinking soda. I also bring my own packed lunch to work to save money,” Tandog says.
The high cost of food these days has forced other employees to bring their own food to work.
Jinky Servidad, a customer-service relations officer at Citibank Makati, makes her own baon instead of buying food at the office cafeteria.
“I can easily save about P100 if I bring my own rice and viand,” says Servidad. “Oftentimes, the food at home the night before, like pork chop, sinigang and adobo, becomes my baon the next day.”
Treat on payday
Servidad and her officemates, who have started to bring their own lunch packs, eat from their respective work tables. Once a month, on payday, they treat themselves to lunch at a nearby fast-food store.
Though office employees are beginning to carry packed food to work, some cafeterias have seen only a slight decline in sales.
Take, for instance, Fendale 2, a self-service cafeteria on Pasong Tamo Street in Makati which caters to employees of a bank, a pharmaceutical firm, a medical center and a computer-supply warehouse.
Since prices soared, Fendale, which serves six to seven dishes a day, has increased its prices only once.
An order of vegetables (ginisang ampalaya, pinakbet, laing) used to be P25; now it’s P30. A meat viand (menudo, pork chop, adobo, caldereta, kare-kare) is now P38 from P35 per order. A cup of rice is at P9.
Half orders
Though the number of Fendale’s patrons has not decreased, Reden Cordero, one of the cafeteria staff, observes that at the end of the day there is more food that remains unsold, unlike before when all the food was sold out soon after lunchtime.
“That’s because some customers just buy half orders,” Cordero says.
He also notes that a growing number of customers now eat on credit and settle the bill on payday.
Effect on fast food-stores
The economic downturn has also affected the big players in the food industry—quick service restaurants, popularly known as fast-food stores.
Jollibee, the leading fast-food chain in the country, is not exempt from the effects of the skyrocketing prices and changes in consumer spending, especially among the middle-and-low-income classes.
“Like most businesses, Jollibee feels the crunch as evidenced by the strong performance of our low-priced meal offers,” says Arline B. Adeva, public-relations manager for Jollibee Business Unit.
Based on its June-August data, Jollibee is averaging over 100 orders a day for its 39ers in each of its stores.
Value meal
The 39ers is the cheapest of its value meal that has two variants: Set A offers five Shanghai rolls with rice, while Set B has one piece of burger steak and two Shanghai rolls with rice.
“We realize that since many people are tightening their belts, they may think twice or thrice before eating out,” Adeva says. “But we are fortunate that Jollibee has always been regarded as a fast-food that offers affordable yet good-tasting food. Instead of driving people away during these difficult times, more people (including those in the upper classes, or the executives) are actually seen eating at Jollibee.”
Just like other fast-food chains, it has adjusted prices.
Since January, it has raised prices four times, but for a total of only 5 percent, or an average of P1-P3, to address the rising costs.
From P59, a piece of chicken now costs P61, while two pieces now cost P106, up from P103.
Adeva says the increased frequency of visits by loyal patrons has protected Jollibee’s sales. “Historically, we observe that if the times are tough, the eating market goes to fast-food stores because we are identified with affordability,” she says.
Yes, even during hard times, people have to eat.
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