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MANILA, Philippines — Do you love to eat and cook, so much so that you’ve been thinking of making money out of your passion?
Marites Ang, President and Chief Executive Officer of restaurant chain King Chef, recalled to Philstar.com how from being a foodie, she was able to put up a restaurant and grow her brand to have eight branches, with another one on its way, in 15 years.
“I’m really a person passionate about cooking, and that’s how it really started. Among all the cuisines, my favorite is Chinese. This has been my comfort food and homegrown food…” Ang told Philstar.com at an exclusive interview following King Chef’s recent opening in Alphaland Makati Place, the brand’s eighth branch and first one in Makati.
According to Ang, the restaurant traces its humble beginnings with a first branch in Banawe, Quezon City opened in May 17, 2010. Now, the restaurant chain even has a branch in as far as Baguio City.
They named it as such after the phrase, “Chef of kings, and kings of chefs.”
“That is for us, our standard. We want to serve kings of different industries, such as our customers here. We serve presidents and also owners of different businesses and also, we want to be known as the king of chefs, meaning, as the best of the best,” Ang elaborated on the restaurant chain’s name.
Her personal favorites from the menu are Steamed Lapu-Lapu with just plain white rice, Hakaw, Siomai and Bean Curd Roll. These, she said, are her comfort food, plus the “always overlooked” Beans Sprouts with Eggplant, which she said, “Kapag gusto kong mag-piyesta sa rice, that is the perfect ka-partner!”
Although the restaurant chain has been known for being “authentic Cantonese Chinese,” Ang is very proud to be Filipino, especially when it comes to the very Filipino habit of eating a lot of rice or being “makanin.”
“Siyempre! Rice is life!” she exclaimed.
According to her, what makes their restaurants different from others is first and foremost, it is run by a completely Filipino team.
“Usually, you would expect na parang may imported chef para maging authentic. But what we do is to immerse our Filipino chefs in Chinese cuisine and culture and we do our (cook-off) challenge every year, they compete against each other and they come up with Chinese food that’s out of the box. So for example, last November, we had a team of eight regional teams of China. So this year, our chefs’ recommendations menu, we have different regional cuisines like Sichuan, Xiangzhou, Shandong…”
Most of their dishes are the chefs’ own recipes, but sometimes, these are also in collaboration with her.
“We just go for food quality, that’s it. ‘Yun lang talaga, ‘yun lang ang single-minded focus namin is the quality of food, and our service. So if there is a strong pillar of success, it would be our people. A lot of our people have been with us from the very first branch. Marami sa mga department heads ko are firsts in their positions,” she pondered on their secret to success this past 15 years.
“Masarap kasi when you’re working together as a family. Kapag nag-gro-grow sila, nag-gro-grow din kami. ‘Di ba, masaya? Nag-eenjoy kasi sila mag-work. That translates to quality of the food and service. ‘Pag nageenjoy sila, nag-eenjoy din ang guests namin to come back again and again.”
Many of their regular customers were invited to the new branch opening as VIP guests. According to Ang, these guests even invite more diners for the restaurant from the neighboring companies.
“That’s how we grow lang talaga – by word of mouth, one customer at a time,” she affirmed.
For other women and aspiring “mompreneurs” (mom entrepreneurs), she said there should be nothing to stop them now to put up their own business and build their own brand.
“Kami (mga babae), we are very blessed, and we should feel empowered, we are born in this day and age kasi celebrated pa nga ang women – we have dignity, we have equal opportunities,” she attested.
“A lot of women sacrificed and fought for this scenario, this privilege. So I think, my only message is take advantage of it. Don’t waste it. Give it your best shot. Just take courage and go after your dream!” — Video by Deni Bernardo; video editing by Chyna Merin
