Entrepreneurial Interview: With An Owner of A Classic Filipino Restaurant

GIAN CARLO B.
MAGISTRADO
ENTREPRENEURIAL INTERVIEW
With an Owner of a Classic Filipino Restaurant Question Answer : : What business do you run? I run a restaurant business which caters different Filipino cuisine in a five-star restaurant style at affordable prices. In essence, it may look like a classic high-class restaurant. However, every person even in the middle and low classes can afford to experience eating in a classic restaurant. What made you form such a restaurant business which caters also to the middle and low class of society? It seems that restaurants nowadays only cater those in the high class and some in the middle class can afford to experience a first-class experience. Now, I felt (not thought but really felt) that the middle class and low class members of society should also experience eating in a classic restaurant through offering variants of food and drink at affordable prices, without veering away from the classic ambiance of restaurants offering notable Filipino cuisine. This business is more of justice than equality among the social classes considering that the lower members of our society could not afford that much in life. At least once in their lives, they can have the classic feel of being in a restaurant. How much was your initial capital for the restaurant business? My initial capital was Five hundred thousand pesos (P 500,000.00). First, it covers the cooking appliances needed for the kitchen. Further, it covers the machineries required for the proper maintenance of the kitchen. Second, it covers the restaurant proper itself which includes tables, chairs, cloths, cash register and other interior design for the fresh feel of a classic restaurant. Third, it covers the business expenses such as the initial food to be offered, salary expenses, rental expenses, government registration and maintenance expenses, utilities expenses, and other miscellaneous expenses. Considering that we were starting then, we have to really budget the capital/investment as much as possible without sacrificing the over-all objective of creating a
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classic Filipino restaurant. Hence, it was expected that the restaurant will be in medium-scale. Additional investment came in after six months when the business boomed because of publicity through word of mouth. Hence, through the additional investment, we engaged in publicity stunts and advertisement through newspaper ads and giving away leaflets. Question Answer : : You are running a restaurant. What food, drink and other services that you are offering? Generally, we are offering food inspired by different Filipino cuisine from Ilocos, Cagayan, Pangasinan, Pampanga, Cavite, Batangas, Cebu and Davao, among others. So you can expect that we will offer the classic Filipino foods such as Caldereta, Afritada, Mechado, Laing, Bicol Express, Adobong Baboy, Manok and Karne, Pinakbet and Inihaw na Bangus. But our main course is our Pancit Malabon, which is made properly and according to tradition with additional secret ingredients in order to make our Pancit Malabon a special dish of our restaurant. As to drinks, we offer the classic buko juice as our main beverage. To maintain that classic feel that the customers are in a Filipino restaurant, we have a small singing band and a grand piano where people can play classical music. There is also a special music hour wherein our resident pianist will play an hour full of music from classical to contemporary music. Did you face any setbacks or obstacles along the way in promoting and maintaining your business? Yes. Of course, it is inevitable that we face different setbacks and obstacles in the run of the business. One of these setbacks is the customers initial feedbacks. Despite positive reviews and feedbacks from our initial customers, there are still a few customers who will complain about the food and services we offer. However, it is but part of business maintenance that we must consider feedbacks, opinions and suggestions of customers in order to improve our services. Hence, aside from the feedback form, our employees, our chef and I would approach each customer in order to ask for their feedbacks and suggestions to improve our services. Eventually, we took them into consideration and further improve our services. That is what business is: you gamble, you confront, you improve for the betterment of the people you serve and of the business.
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What advice then can you share for other prospective businessmen out there? Do not be afraid to take chances, opportunities and risks. These are all part of the business that we all run. Business is just like our lives: we choose and decide on how to become better persons. We may be hindered with or we may fall along the way, but we must have the courage to bounce back again and stand up for what we want. It is not purely business; it is your life. Also, we must take opinions, suggestions and even in criticisms as part of our improvements. We must not take them personally but we must take them as part of improving the business and ourselves. Because without such opinions, we can never know what may be wrong in the running of the business.

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GIAN CARLO B.

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