Specialty food court relies on north recla progress

CEBU, Philippines – Eyeing huge potential to succeed here in Cebu, specialty food court Happy Meals Plaza now banks on the progress of other developments at the North Reclamation Area.

SCU Holdings Philippines, Inc. chairman Sally C. Uy said the concept of their project is a specialty food court that will cater to the surrounding markets around the North Reclamation area.

Uy who hails from Bacolod City, and originally engaged in the lumber industry, is quite new in the commercial arena but is apparently optimistic that the strong development potential of the Mandaue Reclamation area gives them positive prospects for the operation of Happy Meals Plaza.

She recalled that before coming up with the specialty food court concept, she first thought of putting up a barbeque grill plaza similar to Larsian but as the area evolved with the blossoming of more commercial developments such as IT centers, condominiums, schools and even other commercial establishments, she saw the opportunity to put up a more sophisticated concept.

Now, Uy envisions Happy Meals Plaza to become one of the food landmarks in Cebu as its location continues to develop into becoming another burgeoning business district in the city.

She said that as Cebu’s first specialty food court located outside a mall, HMP has huge potential to succeed in the market especially that it can cater to the immediate needs of the nearby establishments and developments in the North Reclamation area.

“There are more than 15,000 students and faculty population at Cebu Doctors University and there are call centers soon to operate in the nearby IT center as well as residents of nearby dormitories and condominium in the Boardwalk City Residences as well as a Korean school that will soon operate in the area, so we already have a captive market and we will build on that as we are starting,” said Uy.

Other than its captive market, HMP eyes Cebu’s ABC market segment as well as food lovers who are always in the look out for good food at an affordable pricing.

Happy Meals Plaza is due for soft opening this month and will have its grand opening by June.

Uy invested around P28 million to develop HMP and she said that opening at the height of a crisis has its risks but because they have so much faith in the potential of the area, they are optimistic to have a positive outcome in the future.

“Despite the crisis, we remain to have high hopes as we are encouraged with the developments that are on-going in the area. We believe that this district will boom by and by,” said Uy.— Rhia de Pablo