Lai Garden Tea House caters to mixed-market

After the success of their seafood restaurant at the Crossroads in Banilad, Lai Garden will soon introduce a new concept of dining to the Cebuano market that is patterned after the old Chinese tea house.

Lai Garden Tea House will soon be opened this November 30 at the second level of SM City Cebu’s North Wing.

In an interview with Domingo Y. Te, the Managing Partner of Circle of Friends, Incorporated he expressed optimism regarding the prospects of hooking Cebuanos to another unique concept of providing affordable but quality food.

Tea houses are places where Chinese people get together to chat, meet with friends and family, dine and spend quality time with each other and similar to this concept is what Lai Garden Tea House aims to provide its customers.

“This Tea House is a different venture because this time we will not be serving seafood but introduce new food specialties. It is aimed at providing customers a place where they could unwind and relax,” said Te.

Since SM City Cebu has been identified to cater to the “masa” market, Te noted that Lai Garden Tea House will not be limited to serving a small segment of the market but instead a wider and non-discriminating client-base.

Since the mall’s North Wing area is high-end, he figured it very strategic and profitable since they will be able to serve both the high end customers who will shop in the North Wing and those shoppers who are roaming around the rest of the mall’s area.

“We can cater to the lower ends of the market and also the higher ends. It will definitely be a mixed market, free flowing for all,” said Te.

It has been reported that a minimum of 80, 000 people visit SM daily and attracting even a small portion of this scale is the aim of Lai Garden.

“Catering to a mixed market will be a big advantage for us and the business. We will go for the volume to emphasize that it does not matter whether these customers won’t be spending much as long as many of them will come frequently and try our food,” he added.

Lai Garden will be the first restaurant in Cebu to adopt the tea house concept after some old Chinese restaurant from the 60’s did.

But with this newest business venture Te pointed out one thing and that is they do not want to compete with anyone as they only desire to provide an alternative dining option for Cebuanos who are known for its signature preference for food which has the factors of affordability, quantity and quality.

“We are not here to compete as we are also trying to survive in this business in our own way. But basically we are here to share this new concept to the Cebuano market and engage them with it like how they enjoy coffee shops these days but this time we want them to focus more on the food,” he stressed. —Rhia de Pablo

Lai Garden Tea House will be serving specific Chinese tea from China on the house and diners can also order Dimsum food choices. The restaurant measures 228 square meters and designed with prominent Chinese colors and structures. It has a capacity of about 150-160 people.

“We guarantee to provide our customers what is worth their money. We will not sacrifice quality over pricing and we will adhere to the Cebuanos’ way of enjoying restaurants and that is through serving delicious and quality food items but at an affordable rate,” Te said.