These exceptional merchants reveal what it takes to uphold the quality, consistency, and heart that customers expect from the Grab platform in every region.
Grab has become a natural, indispensable part of the Filipino lifestyle. From shopping for the essentials and getting from place to place, all the way to indulging in your cravings from the comfort of your own home, it’s difficult to imagine getting through each day without the superapp. And behind every great platform is an even greater community, one that embodies its standards of excellence to a T across the country—and in doing so, helps build the stellar reputation it proudly holds today. The annual Golden Grab Awards is an acknowledgement of these efforts, a grand culmination that spotlights merchants who have set benchmarks in marketing, operations, and customer delight, delivering the best for Filipino consumers.
Lifestyle Asia had the opportunity to interview four of this year’s Golden Grab Awards winners, all of whom have exemplified the GrabFood and GrabMart values of quality, trust, and innovation at scale outside of Metro Manila, their exceptional work a testament to the consistent and far-reaching impact of the platform.
READ ALSO: Flavorful Innovation: Golden Grab Awards 2024 Winner CloudEats Is Transforming The Way People Dine
4 Regional Vanguards At The Golden Grab Awards
Davao Central Convenience Store
GrabMart Marketing Winner – GMS Adoption Leader
The Golden Grab Award for GMS Adoption Leader recognizes GrabMart merchants who have maximized Grab Marketing Solutions (GMS) not only to boost sales, but to achieve standout results while doing so. With around 179 stores, Davao Central Convenience Store—operating for more than three decades under the Felcris Group of Companies—has done more than build on long-standing customer trust. It has fully embraced Grab’s technology, using data and insights to refine the very strengths that make it a go-to brand for people across Mindanao. With its selection of carefully curated, high-quality multinational brands, it’s no surprise that so many in the region rely on it for their everyday needs.
“Grab has helped us reach more customers at their most convenient time, since we’re open 24/7,” explains Cindy Yap, Executive Vice President of the Felcris Group of Companies. “With just the click of a button, they can get all their essentials whenever and wherever they want.”
When asked about the ethos behind Davao Central Convenience Store, Yap emphasizes it’s all in the name: “It’s mainly to bring convenience to the customers, wherever they go.” This customer-first principle carries into the group’s future plans, which include developing a drive-through and pickup service via Grab to make purchasing even easier for everyone.
For Yap, the most transformative element has been GMS’s analytic tools. “We get analytics on a daily, weekly, monthly basis on things like basket size, which areas we get most of the orders from, and what products or categories are being ordered. Those analytics help us decide on the best course of action for the business.”
True to form, the Davao Central Convenience Store team isn’t driven by awards: they’re driven by service, ensuring Filipinos receive quality goods when and where they need them. Still, the recognition is deeply meaningful. “We didn’t expect it at all,” Yap shares. “We were surprised that when we put effort into it, with Grab’s help, our numbers grew four times bigger. So of course we’re very happy, and it just means that, aside from brick and mortar, digital is the way to go now.”
We Got Cha
GrabFood Marketing Campaign – Marketing Manager Ace (Mindanao)
Milk tea has become a beloved staple any time of day, and the hundreds of stores selling it in the Philippines show just how widely enjoyed it is. But such a saturated market comes with steep competition, making it especially challenging for brands to stand out. With the right tools and platforms, however, businesses can break through the noise. That’s exactly what We Got Cha, winner of the Golden Grab Awards Marketing Manager Ace for Mindanao, accomplished through its strategic partnership with Grab. This award recognizes GrabGood Merchants who excel in driving orders through GrabAds, demonstrating strong marketing effectiveness and impact.
What began as a passion-driven project inspired by the pregnancy cravings of founder Arlene Roma has since grown into a flourishing chain—one that serves each cup as freshly as it’s made, thanks to efficient Grab deliveries. Its reach now cuts across a wide demographic, placing the brand on competitive footing with larger international chains.
When asked how she achieved this, Roma explains: “Every month, we always make sure we have marketing. I utilize [Grab’s] dashboard and self-enroll in the marketing campaigns. I make sure we offer discounts, and together with the discounts is the marketing component. That’s how we always do it: our customers are very discount-driven. I make sure to do this for all our branches.”
Yet even the most effective marketing tools require a dedicated team behind the scenes to help merchants make the most of them. This is where Grab’s exceptional support shines, not just for customers, but also for the merchants who power its ecosystem. “GrabFood always makes us feel that we’re taken cared of, especially the people working behind the scenes,” Roma shares. “They always inform us about what’s new. There were also times when I’d forget to enroll in the marketing campaigns, and our account manager would remind me. So we know that with GrabFood, someone is always on the lookout to make sure we succeed in everything we do for our business.”
Quarantea
GrabFood Quality – 5-Star Eats (Visayas)
The GrabFood Quality 5-Star Eats award is a mark of exceptional excellence, given to top-performing GrabFood City and Community Merchants who uphold Grab’s highest standards for food quality and service. It’s not just about delivering consistently delicious dishes and drinks—it’s about doing so while managing high volumes of orders without compromising on freshness, taste, or care.
Quarantea, a milk tea shop that also offers crowd favorites like takoyaki, has achieved all this and more, earning the award for the Visayas region. True to its name, the shop began during the quarantine period of the pandemic and grew rapidly through its partnership with Grab, which helped meet the surge in demand for milk tea deliveries at the time. Even as circumstances changed, Quarantea continued to thrive by keeping its focus firmly on its customers.
“We make all our teas with passion,” shares Store Lead Janilla Navaja Alajas. “The customer should always be satisfied, because that’s how they keep coming back. Cleanliness comes first, and good service that’s always consistent.”
Looking ahead, Alajas hopes to expand the brand further, expressing gratitude to Grab for giving her business the opportunity to reach new heights in the region.
CBS Kitchen
GrabFood Quality– 5-Star Eats (Mindanao)
Also representing Mindanao as a 5-Star Eats award winner is a homegrown concept born from today’s shift toward healthy, wholesome meals that taste as good as they are good for you. CBS Kitchen began when co-owner Cheerylee Saldua started selling small batches of her fresh salads to colleagues craving nourishing bowls of produce. The rest, as they say, is history: Cheerylee and her husband Aladin, who was also seeking healthier meals to better manage his own health, began preparing salads from a small kitchen. And while the business had to pause during the pandemic, CBS Kitchen returned stronger than ever—opening a second brick-and-mortar store and reaching even more customers through the Grab app.
While salads may seem simpler to deliver because they’re served cold, maintaining Grab’s 5-star quality is still a significant feat for a business that relies entirely on freshness. With mostly raw ingredients, meticulous sourcing and preparation become essential.
“Our mission is, when we serve our food, it should be fresh,” Aladin shares. “We got partners in our farm to market that would exclusively give us good lettuce and other vegetables. When I read most of the reviews, they really talk about how fresh or good our products are. Not just salads, but also our salad wraps, sandwiches, and quesadillas.”
He adds: “We don’t prepare the food ahead of time. We just prepare them as they [customers] order.”
A strong digital presence has also fueled CBS Kitchen’s growth. “Without Grab, we wouldn’t have gotten as many customers as we have now,” Cheerylee explains. “That’s one of the best strategies of our business.”
The partnership with Grab has taught the couple many lessons, but what stands out most is the attention to detail that inspires them. “I really thank our [Grab] account manager for this. He’s hands-on, always follows-up with us and shares our progress,” Aladin says. “Grab really gives us the opportunity to make ourselves visible to the consumers who want our food, a window of opportunity to share. It’s actually thanks to Grab that we’re able to maintain our second branch.”
“And we’re looking forward to more,” Cheerylee adds with a smile.
What Lies At The Heart Of The Golden Grab Awards 2025
Receiving a Golden Grab Award is a prestigious milestone within the Grab community, but for many merchants, it’s only the beginning. Rather than serving as a finish line, each award stands as a reminder of how far they’ve come and how much more they can still achieve through the steady and exceptional effort that defines the Grab platform. As EJ Dela Vega, Grab Philippines Chief Commercial Officer and Head of Deliveries, puts it in his closing remarks at this year’s ceremony: “You’ve raised the bar so high, that excellence is no longer an aspiration—it is the expectation.”
Photography by Johnrei Razona
