Getting Down With Tita: How Seafood City Transformed Filipino Supermarkets into Hot Clubs
The supermarket chain is hosting these parties around North America.
Photo: Joshua Santa Ana
By now, you’ve likely seen the viral videos: the late-night supermarket parties where pandesal is tossed into the crowd and Filipinos of all ages dance in the aisles. Late Night Madness, a series of parties hosted at grocery chain Seafood City, is bridging generations of Pinoys and showcasing Filipino culture around North America. At the Scarborough location, Kalamansi Collective is presenting the series in collaboration with the grocer.
Seafood City is the largest Filipino grocery chain in North America, with 38 stories across Canada and the U.S. And while the stores hold a special place in the Filipino diaspora’s heart, Seafood City’s director of digital marketing and events Patricia Francisco says that the chain has been trying to “find more and more ways to serve the Filipino community and showcase Filipino food and cuisine and culture.”
@karensundays 🇵🇭 peak filipino activity: party at seafood city @seafoodcityofficial @Kalamansi Collective @celestelaurra 📍scarborough seafood city #filipino #filipinooculture #seafoodcity #filipinotiktok #toronto ♬ original sound - karen | toronto creator 🇵🇭🍉
The parties started when Francisco and her team transformed the Daly City, California store into a Filipino street party to celebrate its opening. Francisco explains that they were looking for a way to introduce both the new store and the Filipino food hall within the store in a novel way. Francisco took a page out of her own upbringing: “I was born and raised in the Philippines, and the way people typically enjoy Filipino street food is normally at night, on the streets and you’d typically also have people doing karaoke and a big boom box blasting music,” she says. “When we first introduced Filipino street food, we wanted to replicate that feeling or experience, especially for people who may not have experienced it firsthand in the Philippines.”
The party was an instant success. After that first pop-up in July, Francisco says that Seafood City corporate decided to try hosting similar parties at all 38 locations. That’s when they hooked up with Toronto-based Filipino brand Kalamansi Collective, which they’ve teamed up with for their Scarborough store’s parties throughout December.
From the beginning, bridging the motherland with the diaspora as well as first-generation Filipino immigrants with their children was the goal. Francisco brought in a Filipino DJ who would play “old songs that the young generation may have experienced only by listening in the background of their parents’ generation” as well as more modern hits to get younger folks hyped up. They also served both traditional Filipino food as well as more modern takes on Filipino cuisine like pandesal sliders and lumpia overload (sort of like nachos, but with lumpia instead of corn chips). “We wanted to create a modern space for Filipinos,” she says. The party was a way to “present culture in a non-traditional way.”
For Kris Pangilinan, the founder of Kalamansi Collective, working with Seafood City was a no brainer. “We saw the parties online and we thought, damn that looks a lot of fun. We want to bring that to Canada.”
Photo: Joshua Santa Ana
Like Francisco, Pangilinan saw the Late Night Madness party pop-ups as an opportunity to build a bridge between generations. “We cater to a younger Filipino generation that know Seafood City for good food they get when they feel nostalgic, and Seafood City delivers to customers who are first-generation Filipinos,” he says. “We wanted to make that bridge where younger Filipinos and the older crowd come together and create something wonderful.”
It’s a whole family affair at these parties, both Francisco and Pangilinan explain. “You see people bringing in their grandparents, you see new parents carrying their kids to these events,” Francisco says. “At such a young age, or even such an old age, you can enjoy the same celebration and be so loud and proud about being Filipino.”
And it’s not just intergenerational connections that Late Night Madness is fostering, it’s also creating a safe space for Filipinos to bump into old friends and “truly feel like they belong,” Francisco says. Because the events are free (though they do charge for food), it’s also an inclusive and accessible hangout spot on weekend nights. “And even if you’re not Filipino, you'll definitely be immersed into Filipino culture and the way we are as people: we’re very inviting and you’ll feel right at home even if it’s your first time experiencing Filipino food and music.”
Photo: Joshua Santa Ana
The parties are now a testament to the Filipino communities in these cities: In Scarborough, Toronto mayor Olivia Chow even dropped in and wanted to stay for line dancing (Pangilinan says that Chow’s handlers told her she had to go before dancing began). “The mayor of the fourth biggest city in North America pulled up and wanted to show off her dance moves,” he says with a laugh. “But she also wanted to show the world that she’s proud of the Filipino community here in Toronto.”
While the last of the parties will be taking place this weekend, both Pangilinan and Francisco says that this won’t be the end of their partnership. “There’s a lot of excitement and the possibilities are endless,” Pangilinan says. “But it just shows that something that unites the community can really work. And that together, we are unstoppable.”
Late Night Madness’ last Scarborough parties will be taking place December 12 and 13 from 8pm to midnight at Seafood City Scarborough (20 Lebovic Ave, Scarborough)