Precy Florentino: It’s ‘Dinetertainment for All’ at the Promenade

MANILA, Philippines - Before music diva Kuh Ledesma left in 1990 to bring her act to the US, she sold The Music Museum, the trailblazing theater-restaurant she founded in 1988, to her good friend,  Precy Florentino. Precy was working with the Alcantara group of companies as vice president for marketing at that time. She was also producing concerts.

“It was practically rammed down my throat,” Precy laughs.

She took over in March 1990. In 1992, The Music Museum burned down. “I thought it was the end of my entrepreneurial career,” Precy recalls, “but a friend said it would rise like a phoenix.” And it did.

A year later, Precy opened Shoppesville Plus in the same location in Greenhills, and in 1994, she reopened The Music Museum. The theater-restaurant now stood in tandem with a mini-mall. Whereas other malls would have shopping as the center of activity with entertainment simply an added attraction, Precy says, “I created this business model where the focus is entertainment complemented by shopping.”

“After every concert, I saw that Greenhills seemed dead except for the tiangge,” Precy recalls. “The Greenhills Theatre had been mothballed and used as a warehouse most of the time.”

She offered to lease the property from the Ortigas group and showed them what she could do with it. In 2001, she reopened Greenhills Theater as the Theater Mall with two cinemas.

“I was actually overwhelmed when I saw the 3,200 square-meter area, which can house 1,500 seats,” Precy recalls. “I put up two movie houses in that same building. The balcony and loge sections of the former theater became the two movie houses, and the orchestra section, including the frontage, became the retail area, which I call the mini-mall.”

But she soon found out that two movie houses were not enough to cope with the requirements of big film distributors. So in 2005, with more land leased from Ortigas, Precy built Promenade, with Cinemas 3, 4, and 5 as well as a cluster of restaurants and lifestyle shops.

The following year, she opened Teatrino, a smaller version of The Music Museum, on the ground floor of the Promenade, where you can watch live performances, mini-concerts and stage plays.  It can also serve as a venue for events such as intimate wedding receptions and debuts.

In July 2013, Precy opened three more movie houses at the Promenade: Cinemas 6, 7, and 8, which feature Dolby Atmos, the latest in surround sound technology, may very well be the crown jewels in her string of movie houses. Precy takes pride in saying that they were the first, and at that time, the only one to have Dolby Atmos in the country.

“It is the most significant development in audio since the arrival of surround sound,” Precy explains. “When we opened our first cinemas, we had what was called 5.2, meaning to say, five speakers and two amplifiers. With Cinemas 3, 4, and 5, we had 7.3 — that is, seven speakers and three amplifiers. With Dolby Atmos, it’s 43.7. So you can just imagine what that means. As their tagline says, ‘You can hear the whole picture.’ It’s not something you can get from your cable TV or even from your home theater.”

“Before each screening, there’s a short clip that shows the difference. You can follow the sound of a leaf falling; the sound of rain or a helicopter coming from the top,” Precy explains. “It’s not an ordinary cinema. Your ceiling has to be structurally fitted to accommodate several speakers.”

And yet the cost of tickets is the same. “We want to offer people something better than other cinemas,” Precy says. “It’s first-class, with comfortable seats, very clean and good-smelling, very good sound and very cold. You should bring your sweater. It’s nice to cuddle up while watching a movie.”

To match the high standards of her new cinemas, Precy commissioned her good friend, BenCab, National Artist for Visual Arts, to do a sculptural mural at the lobby of Cinemas 6, 7, and 8.  It’s titled “8 Movements,” because cinema is movement, Precy explains. Despite many other commissions waiting in line, BenCab was excited to do this one because it was not to be for investment or for sale but for public display, for more audiences to see, Precy says. “I would like to recreate the Palacio Ng Pelikula, just like in the olden days.”

She also designed the giant reel at the entrance of the cinema and the giant strip of film on the ceiling featuring Oscar-winning movies like 2013’s Argo. “I want to be creative in whatever I do,” she says. She has an IT group and a creative group that helps her. She is fond of taglines. For the Theater Mall, it’s “A Landmark Reinvented.” For the Promenade, it’s “Dinetertainment for All.”

In keeping with her business model, more shops and dining outlets opened at the Promenade in December 2013. There are a number of coffee shops, snacks and pastry shops, as well as restaurants featuring different cuisines such as Filipino, Thai, Japanese, Chinese, Korean and Mexican.

“One of the favorites here at the Promenade is Maritel Nievera’s Ebun,” Precy says. “It’s the Kapampangan’s way of cooking. Not only dates but families come here, especially on weekends.”

Another newly opened restaurant by Maritel at the ground floor is Soi, which features Thai cuisine.

There are lifestyle stores, clothes and fashion, music and electronics stores, health and wellness, as well as bookstores such as Fully Booked. All in all, she has about 300 tenants, with at least 100 at the Promenade.

It’s no easy task. “All businesses have problems, but I always tell my people, we should not be afraid of problems. We should always be solutions-oriented,” Precy says. “Maintenance alone is a major concern. We have lots of moving parts here. You have the escalators, the pumps, the air-con. These are facilities that have to always be in tiptop shape. There’s also the security. Housekeeping is something that has to be done all the time. You have to have very good people in running a business. I consider them like family. That’s the only way. They learn to think like an owner.”

Precy, who graduated from Maryknoll with a degree in Business Administration, credits her 32 years of working with the Alcantara group for developing her business sense. “I got the best education. I consider them my mentor in running a business. I learned very good business ethics and integrity.”

But even as a child, Precy was already entrepreneurial. The middle child among four siblings growing up in Bulacan, she used to go around her neighborhood offering to shine shoes with a shoebox her grandfather made for her. Her parents were grocers, and on All Saints’ Day, she’d buy a box of popsicles from them, which she’d sell at the cemetery while her sisters and cousins would just be playing with the candles.

“I have always been independent,” she says. She is happily single, which has allowed her to enjoy much freedom and flexibility. Still, she has a very close relationship with her siblings, nieces, nephews, and even the grandchildren. Recently, she treated 29 of them to a 14-day Mediterranean cruise. “Travel is very important, even if it is not for business,” she says. “It’s sometimes better than going to school. You see new things, new ideas. It makes you grow a lot.”

“I am very content with what I have. I always pray for contentment.” She also sets aside time for herself. “I don’t accept morning engagements,” she shares. She wakes up at 6 a.m. and meditates for at least 30 minutes. She reviews the activities she has lined up for the day and prays for each one. She has a good breakfast, reads all three major newspapers, then relaxes the rest of the morning. She is at the office by 2 p.m. unless she has a lunch meeting, and does not leave the office earlier than 8 p.m.

“There is always something to do,” she says. “If I were younger, I would probably be able to do much more.”

She is currently involved in another development at Capitol Commons in Pasig, which is another interesting story for the future. “I always want to do something,” Precy says. “You will never hear me say I’m bored.”