A chef talks business

Greg Singian III should have been a doctor, being the descendant of a line of doctors, founders of the well-known Singian Clinic beside the San Miguel Cathedral in Manila. He is equally a descendant of a line of excellent Pampango cooks. Three siblings, all of whom share his passion for food, are now businessmen.

Singian, however, is both professional chef and businessman, ruling the kitchen of C2 Restaurant and Bar and running his own cheesecake business. "Play" is probably the best way to describe his business venture.

Called GAM Foods Inc., after the first name initials of Singian and his original partners, the company supplied home-baked cakes and pastries. The partnership eventually broke up with Singian, the only chef in the group, buying out the other two. Today, he says, GAM stands for "Greg and Me."

As president of GAM Foods, he has dropped the cake and pastry line to concentrate on the company’s specialty, cheesecake. There is a whole line of variations – plain and fruit-flavored like blueberry, mango and strawberry, and even cappuccino flavored.

The recipe remains his big secret. He won’t even sell it to one of his aunts, who is part owner of the Sugarhouse Bakeshop. He, however, reveals that only graham crackers are used for the crust and that it is his policy, whether in his own kitchen or at C2 Restaurant, not to sacrifice quality for economy.

"I always tell my staff and co-workers that I will never serve anything I won’t eat myself. When in doubt, give it to the pigs. And I can sound like a broken record when I remind them about hygiene and cleanliness. I want everything clean, clean, clean and very clean," he says.

No longer a big secret is C2 Restaurant, which is part of the Cravings Group. Located at the fifth floor of the Asian Institute of Management, this fine dining establishment is a favorite and private meeting place for AIM alumni, faculty, students and Makati denizens. While his thriving cheese business is pretty much a two-person show (a trusted maid-secretary also knows the works), Singian rules C2 hands on.

"I try to give my staff as much freedom as I can t o be able to find themselves within the kitchen environment. Of course, there are still limits to this. But I try to rotate my staff weekly for them to experience all aspects of the kitchen."

Beginnings

Singian took up hotel and restaurant management at Les Roches in Switzerland. He went into the service course, with six months apprenticeship at the Hotel Hyatt Montreaux as waiter and doing room service. While working in the kitchens at Les Roches, he decided that he would rather cook than do all the costings and arithmetic. "I don’t like numbers!", he rues.

Luckily, he discovered Calc Menu, a software program that computes and converts weights, nutritional values of specified ingredients, costs and the like. All he has to do now is press the right keys on this invaluable tool for chefs.

After Les Roches, he had to move to Houston, Texas to join his family and to attend to his grandfather who had fallen ill. He donated blood, whenever necessary, and his grandfather recovered. It was the grandfather who encouraged Singian to go back to school.

Singian did and he earned his chef title from L’Ecole Le Cordon Bleu, L’Art Culinaire in London, England, from which he graduated in 1994.

Singian said that locally trained chefs have the advantage of not getting harsh treatment from superiors in culinary school based on their skin color. "I’m not saying this about everyone but I know a lot of us went through verbal and sometimes physical abuse from the chefs above us," he recalls. There was also home sickness and loneliness to contend with, an experience Singian admits has made him a stronger person. But there was also fun in being away from home and the independence of doing what he wanted. "And, of course, there was that nice feeling of your first pay check, the splurging and shopping with money I actually worked for!"

To earn pocket money, he worked at the bakeshop of the plush Dorchester Hotel. "For two and a half years, I baked croissants and bread every day from 4 a.m. to 9 a.m. and then went straight to school," he recalled.

No overhead

He still supervises baking bread at C2 but, today, the pocket money comes from cheesecakes, a business all done at home. A definite advantage of working there, he admits, is no overhead.

"I started off borrowing P10,000 from my mom, who was and still is very supportive. In three months’ time, I had paid her back in full and had money to spend when I wanted to and I paid for half the electric bill and the telephone bill at home," he says.

Today, his cheesecakes are found in a number of restaurants. Individual orders are entertained and vary in price from P350 to P550, based on size, flavor or topping.

The home-based business also gave him the leeway of managing it whenever he has time off from his regular duties.

As it is, nearly all his waking hours are now at C2. While working on the dishes recently introduced in the international menu, Singian found himself sleeping over in the premises to focus on his work. It has now meant late nights during the week and down to 4 a.m. during Friday and Saturday bar nights. (C2 is closed on Sundays).

""I’ve always been happy cooking," said Singian. The dream is to one day have his own restaurant but there is more to learn about management.

"No matter how eager you may be to go into business straight after school or find a partner or even if your parents can finance you, I’d still advise you to go and train under a good chef. It is only in the work place that you really learn. School is just theory."