Bebang Halo-Halo has been a crowd favorite, known for long wait times because of what its co-founder, Lebanese Sam Karazi, describe as "unbearable demand."

Karazi, who first worked with Filipinos in his wedding giveaways business in Dubai in the United Arab Emirates, said he shifted to selling food during the COVID-19 pandemic.

"Bebang was founded actually from a garage of a house as a side hustle with my co founder, not even me. I got involved when I saw the feedback and how people are reacting to the product," he said.

The businessman said he named their venture after his co-founder's grandmother.

"I really insisted on the name because it's very Pinoy... a lot of people in the beginning were like, 'Why you don't call it something trendy?'"

"I wanted to build a Filipino company, and not something like to look like we imported it from outside. So I wanted to take something from here and make it better," he said.

The brand currently has 11 branches, which now each serve 800 to 1,000 most days. Karizi said there are 30 more branches in the pipeline, many of them joint ventures with partners. 

Karazi said it costs about P7 million to P8 million to open one store. He said about P2 million of that comes from joint venture partners, with return on investment coming in one year. 

Karazi said they've only raised prices twice since starting in 2021, but a third hike is coming soon.

— ANC, 26 March 2025