The Right Ingredients for a Food Business
February 20, 2002 | 12:00am
How do you combine three accomplished entrepreneurs under one corporation without sending egos and designer executive desks out the window?
Author and management consultant Peter Drucker provided a helpful perspective when he said, "The best way to predict the future is to create it." It was from this point of view that Maritel Nievera, Ricco Ocampo and Rikki Dee formed a partnership that has produced three outlets (with a target of 10 by year’s end) and a new concept that’s under development.
Long-time friends and contemporaries, the three share a passion for food and killer business instincts. More importantly, they share a vision: "To make a difference in the restaurant industry," says retailer Ricco Ocampo who, three years ago, partnered with Rikki Dee to open Kitchen.
"It’s a different playing field now," says Rikki Dee. "People want more choices, people talk about the choices available; conversations revolve around ‘Have you tried this place, have you tried that?’ They’re more discriminating and it’s not only about the food but the restaurant itself." Rikki knows this industry so well, having built 52 stalls in mall food courts, bar-restaurants Krokodile Grillery and Dish, and a Filipino line of casual dining.
Maritel Nievera had, in a way, laid the groundwork for product acceptance 14 years ago when she opened Cabalen, the restaurant that elevated Kapampangan food from holes in the wall to the mainstream restaurant culture.
"It was important for the partnership to succeed because it was our first," says Maritel. "It helped a lot that the three us have our own main businesses. We were at a point in our careers where we no longer had insecurities, we had nothing more to prove to ourselves or to each other."
1) Having diverse and shared experience, and having the desire to impart it. The common thing among the three is that they all started in business early. At 17, Maritel was already running Bahay Pasalubong in San Fernando, Pampanga; Ricco started in the RTW business with his cousins; while Rikki began his food career 18 years ago with a small Chinese restaurant on Pasay Road called Chin Chin.
"It’s better to have partners who have the same level of experience rather than getting someone new in business," says Maritel. "It’s an advantage that you have the same business style, so when it comes to making decisions, you either confirm your own beliefs or you learn form someone else’s experience. I’ve learned things from Ricco and from Rikki the same way that they have learned from me."
2) Being cost conscious but not sacrificing the things that matter. If there is anything that business people like to say, it’s that what you save in your operations saves money for your customer and that’s one way you develop loyalty. In these belt-tightening days, even people who have the money dine out want to spend less. Making the operations efficient has afforded Mangan to keep the prices down.
When it comes to ingredients, however, the partners didn’t scrimp. They hunted for suppliers that could offer the best in terms of quality. They also decided to spend a lot on kitchen equipment, sourcing locally and abroad, which does make a difference (try their halo-halo and guinumis).
3) Recognizing your domain. Three assertive bosses can be a lethal combination in business. It can lead to bickering and confusion among employees when it comes to where the buck stops.
Ricco admits he doesn’t know as much of backroom operations as his partners but when it comes to the front room, he may well be the most experienced, having conceptualized trendy shops like Anonymous and i2i. The aesthetics of Mangan were left to him. Influenced by New York design, he imported design-classic chairs, commissioned paintings of Filipino icons from Robby Mananquil, and fashioned a casual-dining atmosphere with all the modern touches. This has paid off not only in grabbing the public’s attention but mall operators, too. Ayala Center recently awarded Mangan-Glorietta for Best Visual Merchandising in the Food Category – no small feat considering the well-designed restaurants in the mall.
Rikki Dee’s vast experience in different restaurant categories was put to good use. He took care of the food concepts and of the price points particularly. "I knew where we should stand, at what level. We wanted it between fast-food prices and casual dining. A meal with two dishes and soup in Mangan will set you back only about P150 – just a little higher than fast food – and yet it’s all freshly cooked, which is what you get in a full-service restaurant."
Maritel was in charge of the day-to-day operations, how the back and front rooms would be run. She also shared product development responsibilities with Rikki (Ricco is a vegetarian, which ruled out tasting of most of the food; Mangan incidentally offers vegetarian dishes, too). The two settled on the taste, with Rikki providing an "outside" opinion on Filipino northern or Ilocano cuisine. The final decision on the taste was Maritel’s, who grew up with this type of cuisine and had been selling it even at Ituro Mo, Iluluto Ko restaurant in Pampanga before she put up Cabalen. "Of course, if it were Chinese food, then Rikki would have the last say," she says.
4) Knowing your market and marketing your product. Filling a market niche was the easy part: Who doesn’t like Kampampangan or Ilocano cuisine, which has influenced our national palate a great deal? As Maritel said in a previous interview with Starweek, "Filipinos may try other cuisines – Italian, Japanese, American – but always they go back to Filipino food."
With the cuisine’s inherent popularity, the next thing they did was to create one worthy to be talked and written about, which is probably the best tool a business can use. Sure enough, Mangan has attracted patrons regardless of economic bracket, from Senator Loren Legarda to students to office people. Rikki says the restaurant caters from the A market (which traditionally puts a premium on the ambience of the place) to the broad C market (which is particular about prices). "Regardless of their economic bracket, all diners want the same thing: good food and we have that as a given," he says.
5) Reinvent yourself. If the devil is in the details, you’ll find Ricco Ocampo riding on his tail. His idea (Ricco, not the devil’s) of serving the food is not just putting it on a plate, but adding touches of humor. For instance, the Mangan branch in Robinsons Place-Manila recreates the atmosphere of provincial wealth – stereotypical, yes, but classic – with its chandeliers, borloloy glasses and picture frames, and sofas covered in plastic. You won’t find bilaos hanging on the walls at Mangan, that’s for sure.
"There’s a continuous effort to reinvent the product because it’s been in the market for a long time," says Ricco. "Otherwise, we will be the same as everybody else and where’s the excitement in that?"
"The old guns in the food business, they didn’t pay much attention to the details because they had less competition before," says Rikki. "Aesthetics-wise, they weren’t so conscious. Matagal bago mag-improve. It’s different now. The market is easily bored, they always want a new spin on old products."
Speaking of reinvention, the partners are developing a new concept, an all-day dining lounge-restaurant called Juan de la Cruz to open at the new Greenbelt Park this summer.
6) Listening to and respecting opinions. Maritel Nievera and fellow Kapampangan Ricco Ocampo have known each other since they were kids in San Fernando; Rikki Dee and Ricco were schoolmates at San Beda College.
People with the same background and work ethic still disagree, which is why a baseline requirement for a good partnership is communication.
"People say never go into business with friends because you end up becoming enemies," says Maritel Nievera. "I don’t agree. Who else but your friends can you trust and enjoy working with? We can be frank with each other without offending or fearing being judged. Being able to communicate is critical," says Maritel. "We respect each other’s decisions and opinions. Like if I want to change something about the restaurant’s design, I have to ask Ricco first."
This respect extends to customers. "We listen to them, we want feedback," says Rikki. "So far, the acceptance of Mangan has been overwhelming, which is what pushes us to work harder."
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