Steaming ahead: Din Tai Fung gains stronghold in PH market
It all started with sticky notes.
The founding partners of The Moment Group—Eliza Antonino, Abba Napa and Jon Syjuco—huddled to discuss their next steps, poised to expand amid the successes of Manam and 8Cuts Burgers.
“[The three of us] sat down and asked ourselves if it was the right time to franchise. We each took a Post-it note, and we wrote our top three brands that we wanted to bring to Manila,” Antonino narrates.
They differed in the other two options, but they all agreed on the No. 1 choice: Din Tai Fung.
“The food is always excellent, and the service is next level. Even in a crowded dining room, Din Tai Fung guests are made to feel like they’re the only ones there,” Antonino adds.
This 2026, it’s been 10 years since they opened the first branch at SM Megamall—a testament to how Moment successfully imported Din Tai Fung’s legend of great service and delicious xiao long bao (soup dumplings), among many other dishes, to Filipino diners.
Proven by the lines that snake through branches every day, Moment’s experience shows that Filipino hospitality and innovation can maintain, and even improve on, what makes this dining chain brand special.
‘Are you sure?’
Moment’s quest to bring Din Tai Fung started in early 2013, when the founders met with the restaurant chain’s president, Warren Yang, in Taipei.
When Yang traveled to the country afterward to meet with prospective franchisees, Moment’s directors decided to host him at Manam, the Moment Group restaurant serving Filipino fare.
“After the dinner, Mr. Yang asked for a meeting with the three of us. He asked, ‘Are you really sure you want to do this?’” Antonino recounts. “It was almost discouraging, but he also said that he was quite impressed with the restaurants that we had.”
“He appreciated the service and hospitality extended to them. In fact, he said, if Din Tai Fung Philippines would have the same service as Manam, he would be very happy,” she adds.
Being the smallest group among the suitors, Yang’s word was encouraging—but they did not hold their breath until he said yes. It came months later as they were preparing to go home after being invited to a party with Yang in Taipei, where no word was said about the franchise.
“I got a phone call from Mr. Yang’s team: he wanted to see us for lunch. So we canceled our flight and asked the taxi to turn around … After dessert, we finally got what we’d been waiting for. ‘Go home and find a space,’ he said. ‘Let’s do this together.’”
Antoninio says that Yang left them with these parting words, “Don’t make me regret giving it to you, kids.”
Yet the Moment Group founders always felt they were kindred spirits with Din Tai Fung’s quest for quality.
“I believe we all gravitated towards Din Tai Fung because of how they have maintained and even raised their standards throughout half a century and counting,” she shares.
In this regard, the Philippine operation has introduced innovations, such as its own items on the menu, as exemplified by the crowd-favorite chocolate xiao long bao.
For Napa, at the core of the relationship is both sharing the same values regarding business and hospitality.
“We needed to see eye to eye on what a restaurant is supposed to do and be. And for us, a restaurant is about making people happy, even if it is just over the course of a mealtime,” she notes.
Making people happy
Nursing many restaurants to success, such as their experience with Din Tai Fung, imparted many lessons to both Napa and Antonino. Both are now clear-eyed about misconceptions that cloud perceptions of the food and beverage (F&B) industry.
Napa is honest about the restaurant business not being all easy and fun: “I’d say the one thing that someone needs to think about before entering the industry is if they truly have hospitality in their bones. Making people happy day in and day out is sometimes the only return on investment you get in a day.”
The COVID-19 pandemic was a challenging period for restaurateurs, but what strengthened them was a sense of “esprit de corps”—both inside the company and among competitors—as they faced what the founders describe as the “biggest crisis of our generation.”
“We, along with the rest of our industry, got knocked down to our knees,” Napa says. “But we all stood back up every day and did what we knew best to do — create and serve food.”
This also imparted another lesson for Napa, who shares that the business does not solely revolve around feeding people. “A company’s strength is built on its culture and in its team members’ belief and respect in one another.”
“It is not enough that you know food or wine, or you know how to cook, or that you have excellent taste,” Napa adds. “What you really need in F&B is that you have to be good with people. You have to love taking care of people, both your guests and your team.”
Antonino echoes this view, saying that maintaining successful restaurants such as those under Moment’s wings is a “task of many.”
“There are so many moving parts, not just in the customer-facing capacity but equally so in the back-end capacity. But for people who love what they do, it’s ultimately fulfilling.”
Talking about what makes restaurants great, Antonino says: “What I can say is that every day is a challenge; you cannot rest on your laurels. You have to be consistent and make sure that everyone who walks through your doors always has a good time.”
Ready for PH
Writing Din Tai Fung in those sticky notes a decade ago and working to get it in the Philippines, the Moment Group’s founders were guided by a belief in a thoughtful and delicious dining experience.
“Filipino guests were already lining up in Din Tai Fung shops all over the world to try the world-famous pork xiao long bao, so we understood that the diner was ready for the brand to come to the Philippines,” narrates Antonino.
A decade on, this belief has paid off. Plans are under way for further expansion, with the most recent opening in Cebu.
“It’s about responding to demand, so we open where the market is. We’re mall-centric, and we try to support our commercial partners when they open in different parts of the country,” Antonino explains.
The opening experience in Cebu suggests that Filipinos are happy to feel like the only guests in the room.
“We were initially nervous about how we would be received beyond Metro Manila. Being that Cebu was our first shop in the region, we were genuinely surprised and very happy to see the lines that formed on the first day,” Napa says.
“Seeing Filipinos from all over appreciate dining at Din Tai Fung gives us the confidence to explore other parts of the country that we never thought possible.”
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