If you go to Bacolod and tell the cab that you want to go to 3 Big Brother Foodhaus, hewould immediately know what you’re talking about and bring you there, no questionsasked. Once you arrive there however, don’t expect to see people waiting in line to eat. What would greet your eyes instead would be a throng of people playing Scratchit™ instanttickets and other PCSO games.

When opportunity knocks on your door, you have to answer it. This is a fact that Benito andPinky Conde of Bacolod can attest to. Once you see an opportunity, you have to grab it asquickly as possible lest it slips away.

Back in 2005, couple Benito and Pinky Conde opened up 3 Big Brother, which is amodestly sized restaurant nestled in the heart of Bacolod. Sales were doing okay but Mr.Conde decided to go out of his comfort zone and explore other business opportunities.Thus in 2007, he applied to become a Lotto agent. Since he already had the restaurant,supplementing his income with a little lotto station shouldn’t be too hard. This was thepoint when things began to change for the Condes.

Word spread quickly of their restaurant selling PCSO products, and people came in droves.The community embraced the idea and started playing everything they could get theirhands on – from lotto, to Scratchit™ and most recently with Keno. The couple immediatelynoticed that their restaurant sales went down as people would visit 3 Big Brother more toplay than dine. Rather than abandon the idea altogether, they mulled over it and went overthe books. While they were losing on the food front, they were already making more moneythan they imagined from their lotto and Scratchit™ sales! This was a surprising turnaroundbut then they knew that they had something good on their hands, something that cansupport their livelihood.

They attribute their success and their customers’ enjoyment to Scratchit™’s instantwinnings. There is no need to wait for hours on end just to know if you won or not. All ittakes is a few scratch on the card and you’ll immediately know whether you won anythingfrom P20 to a whopping P500,000. It is this winning experience that keeps the crowdcoming back for more.

It’s incredible to think about how Mr. and Mrs. Conde transformed their businesspractically overnight into the thriving enterprise it is now. Currently, they’re looking toexpand their horizons to the neighboring region of Tacloban. For the Condes, good thingsdefinitely come in small, scratchable packages.