DIAO Eng Chay is one of the first to sell traditional Chinese delicacies in the Philippines. Their first store, which opened in Binondo in the early 1930s, still serves hundreds of Filipino and Chinese customers in Chinatown with their signature dim sum today. In 1990, the third-generation owners sought to bring their heritage recipes to more customers by branching out and starting a new company called DECS. The new brand thrived by serving good quality dim sum to Filipino and Filipino-Chinese customers through a handful of pop-up stores across malls in Metro Manila.

In 2014, Justine Kayne Chua, the great grandson of the original Diao Eng Chay owner, was working with SM Retail's mini-mart chain Alfamart as a merchandising manager. There, he had the opportunity to work with SM Markets Vice Chairman Herbert Sy. As a veteran businessman who saw potential in what DECS signifies, Sy urged him to revive DECS and modernize the legacy brand for it to keep up with the times and expand beyond Greenhills.