DAVAO CITY — On June 20, 2026, the SMX Convention Center at SM Lanang Davao will welcome two culinary heavyweights who have built enduring brands in a volatile industry. Chef Waya Wijangco, the visionary behind Gypsy Baguio, and Chef Buddy Trinidad, President of the Pastry Alliance of the Philippines, will anchor Track 3: Resto Business on the closing day of WOFEX University Mindanao 2026. Their sessions transform a single Friday into a rare classroom where Mindanao’s restaurant owners, café operators, and aspiring food entrepreneurs can learn directly from practitioners who have turned concepts into lasting enterprises.
The track was engineered for a local dining scene that can no longer rely solely on word-of-mouth and good recipes. Davao’s restaurant corridors have become significantly more crowded, ingredient and logistics costs continue to climb, and the post-pandemic diner is far more selective. The knowledge that Chef Waya and Chef Buddy will share is the kind that typically stays locked inside consultancy engagements. Registration remains open at wofexu.com, with rates structured to remove barriers: a single topic costs P2,000, the full three-session Track 3 is priced at P5,000, and a three-day all-access pass across coffee, baking, and restaurant tracks is available for P10,500. Inquiries can be directed to 0998 598 2837.
Chef Waya Wijangco on Building Restaurants That Last
From 1:00 PM to 3:00 PM, Chef Waya Wijangco will lead “From Concept to Opening: Building a Restaurant That Lasts.” As the founder and executive chef of Gypsy Baguio, she understands the precise gap between a beautifully articulated idea and a fully operational, financially sound restaurant. Her talk will map the critical stages of launching a food venture, moving from site selection and capital planning all the way to front-of-house systems, kitchen workflow, and team culture.
What distinguishes Chef Waya’s perspective is its rooting in a destination market that blends tourist foot traffic with fiercely loyal local regulars. Attendees will not just absorb theory; they will receive hard-won lessons from someone who has opened, stabilized, and grown an independent concept in a competitive northern tourism hub. For Mindanao operators who often learn through costly trial and error, the session offers a chance to sidestep preventable failures and adopt frameworks that can be applied immediately to both new ventures and existing operations in need of a reset.
Chef Buddy Trinidad Decodes the 2026 Diner
At 3:30 PM, Chef Buddy Trinidad takes the stage for “Trends in Consumer Dining Behavior: What Guests Want in 2026.” His two-hour session will dissect the rapidly shifting preferences that are reshaping restaurant revenue across the country. As the head of the Pastry Alliance of the Philippines, Chef Buddy possesses a panoramic view of how Filipino diners are making choices, from the rising demand for ingredient transparency and visual storytelling to the expectation of frictionless digital ordering.
These insights are not abstract. They translate directly into menu adjustments, service model refinements, and marketing narratives that resonate with today’s value-conscious, social-media-savvy customer. Chef Buddy will explain why certain menu items gain traction online while others stall, and how operators can read consumer signals to stay ahead of trends rather than chase them. For Davao’s restaurateurs, who compete for a finite pool of weekday office crowds and weekend family gatherings, this intelligence can spell the difference between a packed dining room and a quiet shift.
Morning Foundations and Full-Day Architecture
The day begins at 10:30 AM with “Strategic Menu Planning and Engineering for Restaurant Growth,” a session that lays the financial bedrock for everything that follows. Menu engineering forces operators to analyze each dish’s profitability and popularity, then rework pricing, placement, and descriptions to lift margins without alienating guests. The module completes a deliberate instructional arc: from cost control and kitchen efficiency in the morning, through concept durability with Chef Waya, and finally outward to consumer behavior with Chef Buddy.
Taken together, the three sessions treat a restaurant as an engineered enterprise rather than a dream pursued on instinct. The full-day format also creates a rare networking density under one roof, where suppliers, fellow operators, and potential collaborators can connect in ways that generate wholesale relationships or mentorship long after June 20. For Mindanao’s food entrepreneurs, who often work in relative isolation compared to their Metro Manila counterparts, this informal exchange may prove as valuable as the formal curriculum. The investment of a single day and a modest registration fee could reshape the trajectory of a restaurant for years to come.
