Why Food Keeps Us Coming Back: Chowking's Jia Du on Memory, Value, and Winning Customers One Meal at a Time

Ask people about a dish they grew up with and the answer usually arrives as a story: where they ate it, who sat beside them, what was going on in their lives. Jia Du, vice president and head of marketing at Chowking Philippines, built her current view of food on that observation.

Du came to the restaurant business after careers in consumer goods, media, and entertainment. Working in food, she says, taught her that what people choose to eat is rarely only about hunger. A meal can recall childhood, a family celebration, school days, or an ordinary afternoon when someone brought home a favorite snack. In her words, there are a lot of emotions attached to food, and the memories attached to it matter as much as the taste.

Marketing was not the plan when she studied Management Engineering at Ateneo de Manila University. The idea took hold in her third year, after a marketing subject. She now describes the work as a mix of science, art, and heart: the science in numbers and decisions, the art in taste and judgment, the heart in understanding people. She joined Chowking Philippines in 2024.

The job, she says, has made her a better listener. Her team follows social media, online reviews, and conversations inside stores, tracking complaints, suggestions, and the small details customers notice. One case involved chili oil: feedback about how it arrived with delivery orders eventually led the team to rethink its packaging. "You cannot be complacent," she says. When developing or improving products, the team tastes different versions and works closely with the people who prepare the food. Du herself did store immersions like any Chowking employee, working behind the counter and in the kitchen, which showed her how much labor goes into a meal before it is served.

Her idea of value has shifted too. Affordability still matters, but price is one factor among several. Customers are also paying for a meal they expect to enjoy, the convenience of getting it when they want it, and an experience they can count on. For a brand whose branches serve many customers daily, that means meeting those expectations again and again.

It also means judging which changes are worth making. A new product can draw attention, but familiarity has its own value, especially for dishes people have ordered for years. What looks like one more menu item may be someone's usual order. Du says her task is not only to find the next trend but to understand what people already love, what could be better, and what should stay the same.

With a brand people have known for decades, she calls herself a "brand archaeologist": you dig, she says, to understand what makes the brand great, then find ways to make those strengths relevant to another generation. That approach guided planning for Chowking's 40th anniversary in 2025. Looking back meant looking at the place the brand held in people's lives. Some customers recalled meals with their parents; others, college days. Some now have children with favorite orders of their own. The challenge, as Du frames it, is deciding what can change, what is worth keeping, and how to give a new generation its own reasons to return.

The work has changed how she dines. She pays closer attention to flavor and balance, and at restaurants she now notices the people preparing the food, something she admits she thought about less before joining the industry. Once a meal leaves the kitchen, she says, it belongs to the person eating it, whether it becomes a child's after-school request, a birthday order, or a college memory. Customers may change what they order, where they eat, and how much they spend, but they rarely forget food that became part of their lives. Earning that place, Du says, happens one meal at a time: "Every meal, every day, you're trying to win their hearts."