Tropical Hut is a

Filipino Filipino may refer to: * Something from or related to the Philippines ** Filipino language, standardized variety of 'Tagalog', the national language and one of the official languages of the Philippines. ** Filipinos, people who are citizens of th ...

chain of fast food restaurants owned by Mercury Group of Companies, Inc. It is the 7th oldest food chain in the Philippines and is considered by some Filipinos as the "original" burger joint in the Philippines, being older than

Jollibee Jollibee is a Filipino chain of fast food restaurants owned by Jollibee Foods Corporation (JFC). As of December 2021, JFC had a total of about 1,500 Jollibee outlets worldwide, with restaurants in Southeast Asia, the Middle East, East Asia ...

(1978) and McDonald's Philippines (1981).

History

Established in 1962, Tropical Hut started as a

sari-sari store A sari-sari store, anglicized as neighborhood sundry store, is a convenience store found in the Philippines. The word ''sari-sari'' is Tagalog meaning "variety" or "sundry". Such stores occupy an important economic and social location in a Fil ...

that expanded into an ordinary grocery store and later rapidly into a supermarket with a coffee shop. Through its success within these years, the name Tropical Hut Hamburger was introduced with the company being incorporated as Tropical Hut Food Market, Inc. on February 26, 1965. In 1972, the Mercury Group of Companies acquired the said company and expanded its branches in building several branches across

Metro Manila Metropolitan Manila (often shortened as Metro Manila; fil, Kalakhang Maynila), officially the National Capital Region (NCR; fil, link=no, Pambansang Punong Rehiyon), is the capital region, seat of government and one of three List of metrop ...

Decline and resurgence

Over the years, Tropical Hut had been overshadowed by other fast food chains like

and suffered a decline. On June 12, 2022, a

Twitter Twitter is an online social media and social networking service owned and operated by American company Twitter, Inc., on which users post and interact with 280-character-long messages known as "tweets". Registered users can post, like, and ...

thread by stock analyst John Paul Tanyag (@dumidyeypee) lamented how he was the only customer in their

Escolta Escolta Street (lit: Escort) is a historic east–west street located in the old downtown district of Binondo in Manila, Philippines. It runs parallel to the Pasig River, from Plaza Santa Cruz to Plaza Moraga and Quintin Paredes Street. The s ...

branch, and expressed nostalgia about the restaurant's former glory. Around the same time, another social media post from 2019 from a branch in

Carmona, Cavite Carmona, officially the Municipality of Carmona ( tgl, Bayan ng Carmona), is a 1st class municipality located in the province of Cavite, Philippines. According to the 2020 census, it has a population of 106,256 people. Etymology When Silang ...

(which had since closed) that said "" (Come on, please eat with us) became viral. These and other social media posts triggered a domino effect and resurgence of interest in the fast-food chain, prompting Filipinos to visit nearby branches to check the restaurant for themselves. Riding on a wave of nostalgia after going viral on social media, branches started to sell out, with some even having to turn away customers due to inability to keep up with demand. This led to Tropical Hut creating more staff openings as well as clamor to open provincial branches to serve more people.

Branch locations

As of July 2023, Tropical Hut operates 22 stores across the island of

Luzon Luzon (; ) is the largest and most populous island in the Philippines. Located in the northern portion of the Philippines archipelago, it is the economic and political center of the nation, being home to the country's capital city, Manila, as ...

, 18 of which are in Metro Manila. The fast food chain also operates seven stores with

24/7 service In commerce and industry, 24/7 or 24-7 service (usually pronounced "twenty-four seven") is service that is available at any time and usually, every day. An alternate orthography for the numerical part includes 24×7 (usually pronounced "twenty ...

In Philippine literature

Tropical Hut and its hamburgers have been mentioned in the following books, essays and stories. * The Tropical Hut Food Mart grocery store and the Tropical Hut Hamburger fast food chain are mentioned as part of a town setting in Prospero Reyes Covar's 1998 essay ''Larangan: Seminal Essays of Philippine Culture'', mentioning the fast food chain's Rancho Ranchero and Hawaiian Glee burgers and clubhouse sandwiches as part of the menu at the time. * In Layeta Bucoy's short story ''Tres Amores'', Charisma asks a roving male guard at a Robinsons mall if there is a Tropical Hut branch at the mall. * One of the ten stories covered in Geraldine Maayo's ''A Quality of Sadness'', mentions Tropical Hut's former branch along Session Road in

Baguio Baguio ( , ), officially the City of Baguio ( ilo, Siudad ti Baguio; fil, Lungsod ng Baguio), is a 1st class highly urbanized city in the Cordillera Administrative Region, Philippines. It is known as the "Summer Capital of the Philippines", ...

as a go-to for hamburger lunches and as a stopover for frequent travelers. * In ''Wala Lang'' by Bud Tomas, the author reminisces Tropical Hut as the only burger joint in his hometown. * In Federico Acuña Espiritu's ''Tempest: Eye in the Storm'', the author mentions that a printing press owner would order hamburgers from a Tropical Hut across a National Book Store branch, which the author regarded as "the best hamburger at that time".

External links

References

{{reflist, 30em 1962 establishments in the Philippines Fast-food chains of the Philippines Fast-food hamburger restaurants Philippine brands Restaurants established in 1962