"I think coffee is in my blood," Young declares as we talk about his ongoing passion for UCC Coffee and the coffee shops he has opened in Metro Manila. There are five, so far, and the newest, the UCC Coffee Café Terrace, is at the Fort Bonifacio Global City where we meet for late lunch.
"I know my market," he states. "I have a distinct clientele that comes to my coffee shops. They are discriminating. They are not mall goers. That’s why people come here even if we are tucked away in a corner of Fort Bonifacio. It’s a good meeting venue any time of the day. Businessmen come here early in the morning for a breakfast meeting before going to the office. Sometimes, they come for brunch. We also have a lot of lawyers coming in from the nearby buildings. And they all know that we close late. After they come out of a late movie or a show, when all the other restaurants have closed, they know that when they come here, we will still be open."
With a select clientele, he is not in a hurry to saturate the Philippines with his coffee shops. He prefers to develop his market, offering them what he believes to be the best coffee in the world and giving them the service they deserve.
"We are not what the others are," he explains. "If you go to one coffee place, it looks like just any other coffee franchise. UCC Coffee is not a chain or a franchise. We are more upscale – sophisticated. The coffee we serve here does not represent a company but a coffee company."
Young describes himself to be a coffee man. He started in the coffee business when he was just out of school in the United States. He worked for a time with the Hills Bros. company before eventually branching out into other interests. Yes, he imports UCC Coffee into the Philippines, apart from a number of other specialty Japanese products, including a line of health drinks.
The coffee shops he operates in the Philippines are of his own devising, following the standards of existing UCC coffee shops around Asia. In fact, the innovativeness of the UCC coffee shops in the country has been an inspiration for other coffee shops in the region. The Japanese mother company has taken cues from Young’s marketing strategies in updating the way UCC Coffee and its coffee shops are being presented in Asia.
"We’re here for the long run," he says. "The UCC coffee shop in Hong Kong has been in the same location for the past 20 years. They just renovate it every now and then, give the walls a coat of paint. That’s all."
Three of his coffee shops are known as UCC Coffee Vienna Café, while two go by the name of UCC Coffee Café Terrace. Both have different concepts behind them. The UCC Coffee Vienna Cafés – located along Tomas Morato in Quezon City, along Connecticut St. in Greenhills and at The Podium – have an old world feel to them. The UCC Coffee Café Terrace shops – one at Fort Bonifacio overlooking the elevated green par 3 Hole # 11 of the Manila Golf Club, and the other soon to open at The Paseo Center – are more laidback and have a garden theme. And all five restaurants have varying menus.
"The Japanese, when they find their comfort zone, are quite loyal to it," he says. "That’s why when they go abroad, they look for stores or products that are familiar to them. And UCC Coffee is one of them."
On any ordinary day, the UCC Coffee Café Terrace in Fort Bonifacio is full of Japanese and Korean expatriates. And contrary to the complaint of slow business around Metro Manila, Young declares that "Every day is a busy day."
"Business slows down a little around 5 to 6 p.m. It used to be that breakfast here was slow, but that has since changed," he says.
The UCC Coffee brand isn’t that popular in Manila except for Filipinos who have been to Japan or have worked there for some time. But in Japan, it is the number one coffee brand. The coffee company not only sells coffee, it also has a number of coffee-related products, like a special dairy creamer and sugar suited for its coffee. To drink UCC Coffee is not just to have a cup of coffee but to partake of a complete experience.
Unlike coffee franchises that offer pastries and desserts to go with their coffee beverages, UCC coffee shops offer a complete menu that covers breakfast, sandwiches, entrees and desserts.
"I’ve always thought that a coffee shop should have all-day dining," he says. "You come in any time of the day and there is always something there to eat. UCC coffee shops are places where you can have coffee and all-day dining."
And yes, the menu is Japanese at heart, although it serves western-style meals. Many of the items are familiar, but some are innovations on for a more Japanese flavor and appeal.
If you’ve been to a UCC coffee shop, then you must have heard of the Japanese seafood soup spaghetti. That’s right. Combine a plate of spaghetti, a bowl of soup and seafood together in one mix and what you get is what you read on the menu. And you have a choice of either a tomato-based, cream-based or stock-based soup to go with your spaghetti.
"That happens to be the best seller at all our coffee shops," Young says.
And then there are the items that are specific to each store. At the Fort Bonifacio UCC Coffee Café Terrace, there are a handful of items that you’ll only see there.
The Cliffhanger is like a Monte Cristo except that it is twice the size of an ordinary club sandwich. It comes with its own sauce, sandwiched between the layers of chicken breast, bacon, egg and cheese.
The grilled vegetable teriyaki salad is a full platter of greens with grilled Portobello mushrooms, tomato and eggplant slices served with a teriyaki salad dressing. And if you’re crazy about eggplant, there’s a sandwich version of it, too, but with chicken teriyaki and skewered together with slices of toasted bread. The seafood curry paella rice plate is really three dishes-in-one: Paella, curry and deep-fried breaded seafood morsels. The Hawaiian pork cutlet don isn’t your usual katsudon. It comes with a generous serving of vegetables and pineapples that give it a sweetish taste. For a really savory dish, try the fried prawn curry with rice. Unlike Indian or other Asian curries, the Japanese curry sauce is sweeter with just enough heat to tickle your taste buds. And the steamed rice is topped with four pieces of ebi furai.
If all that had you raiding your fridge, wait till you hear about dessert.
Since the Fort Bonifacio restaurant has lots of space, Young installed a bakery oven in the premises so he could offer bread, too. And wait till you’ve tasted his ensaymadas. There’s the classic ensaymada with grated queso de bola, but the flavored variants are enough to say goodbye to your diets: Belgian chocolate; white Toblerone; blueberry; and apple and cinnamon. Yes, those are all ensaymadas, too.
And if you want something even more sinful, just check out the cake display.
All that goes well with UCC Coffee. The coffee might be a bit pricey – a cup of coffee starts at P105 – but a sip will tell you why. You get pure coffee, light on the tongue, full in flavor. Since an order of coffee is made fresh by the siphon method, diners are assured of really quality coffee.
"There are no coffees of the day here," Young explains. "Life is too complicated as it is, we just want to pamper our guests with good service. They don’t have to make decisions about the coffee they want. We give them the best coffee in the world,"