Two pals trained by best go for 500 in 12 yrs

Chef Mau (left) and Larry take a break at Uncle Cheffy’s wine corner.

He was just in his teens, fresh from high school, when Larry Cortez left his hometown in Nueva Ecija to try his luck in Manila 25 or so years ago.

With college education then out of the question as the family could no longer afford it, young Larry thought his prospects in the province were not so good and, perhaps, Manila could offer a better chance.

It was his first time in the city and with nothing but his determination to survive, Larry took on all sorts of odd jobs.  He worked as an all-around houseboy, messenger and janitor until he was taken in by an agency which got him his first real job. At 17, he was a security guard in a restaurant and later, he landed a job as a bus boy at Prince Albert Rotisserie at the Hotel Intercontinental in Makati City, the job that led him to where he is now.

Now, at 41, Larry is way past the survival phase. He is now the president and co-owner of Chefs’ Quarter Group, which has so far 10 restaurants in its fold. These are Chefs’ Quarter Restaurant (Robinson’s Place and Megamall Atrium), Beurre Blanc Restaurant and Wine Bar (Resorts World), Old Vine Grille (Eastwood Mall and Venice Piazza in McKinley HIll), Kuse Traditional Filipino Cuisine (Venice Piazza)  and Uncle Cheffy’s Brick Oven Global Cuisine (Eastwood Mall,  The Bellagio in Forbes Town Center, and soon, in Lipa City, Batangas).

He has also learned to dream and is now dreaming big, really big – like growing the Chefs’ Quarter restaurant chain to 500 stores in 12 years.

Friends, partners

In this journey, Larry is not alone. He has with him Mauro Arjona Jr., vice president and co-owner of Chefs’ Quarter, whose story is pretty much the same as his partner’s.

Chef Mau, as he is also the executive chef of the restaurant chain, hails from Liliw, Laguna. Also, a high school graduate, he ventured into the big city and made it. But just like Larry, his success did not happen overnight.

Mau started as a dishwasher in a restaurant and was later taken in by famous chef Billy King initially to help in the kitchen at Truffles in Greenbelt. It was where Mau and Larry met, as while the famous chef was hiring Mau, he was also taking in the former Prince Albert bus boy, this time, as a waiter.

Both hardworking and full of potentials, Larry and Mau were taken by Chef Billy King into his fold, thus, when the famous chef moved to Le Souffle, he brought the two young men along. Larry, a natural people person, became restaurant manager while Mau—armed with a little background in home cooking, courtesy of his father, and lots of what he learned from Billy King—eventually became the executive chef of Le Souffle.

When Billy King moved to Camp John Hay’s The Manor, so did Larry and Mau. The team worked together for 17 long years in those fine dining restaurants that served as the duo’s “classrooms” where they learned much of what they know today in this business.

“That was why saying goodbye to him (King) when it was time to leave was very difficult,” says Larry.

Grand plan hatched

“I was already married then. With my wife already pregnant with our first child, I came to the realization that I was raising a family and I had to do something to support a family. That must be the turning point for it was then that I started thinking out of the box,” Larry recounts.

Larry started asking around about building a family and ways to more.

The first person he approached led him to Bible reading which, Larry claims, gave him the perspective and direction, particularly in leadership and dealing with people.

He started reading, mostly self-help books, and later got hooked particularly to reading books about leadership and management, and about people who succeeded in life and business. Some of his favorites to this day are Common Sense Management, Secrets of Self-Made Millionaires, The Science of Getting Rich and Rich Dad, Poor Dad.

These inspired Larry, initially, to become a better manager. He applied in his workplace whatever he learned from those management and leadership books.

Later, the things he read gave him the idea to put up his own business and the more he read them, the more he got inspired and convinced that everything was possible for as long as one put his heart and mind in it.

Those books did not only give Larry the inspiration, but practically the ABCs of starting and running a business, too.

“It gave us the idea where to get the capital we needed. We can’t go to the banks because we still did not have the track record, we also didn’t have rich families that could support us. What we have, and as was also recommended by the books, were loyal customers who had expressed willingness to join us when we decide to start our own.”

Whatever he read and think, he shared with his friend, Mau, and it was during those times that their minds met and their business plan was hatched. “It had to be a restaurant, we decided, for it was the only thing we both know and we’re very good at,” recalls Larry.

The plan was not just a restaurant, though, but a chain of restaurants.
Taking the plunge

“As those books taught us, we first had to build our energy, convince ourselves that it could be done and prepare ourselves to doing it.”

The duo did exactly that and in 2006, they said their goodbyes to their mentor, Billy King, and took the plunge.

They put value in their ideas, plans and capabilities, and those became their capital contribution to the venture formed with a group of investors, mostly former customers. The duo’s contribution entitled them to a 40-percent stake in the restaurant they put up at Serendra in Fort Bonifacio Global City, with the rest owned by the investors.

The arrangement did not last long, as Larry and Mau were apparently searching for something bigger. They got out of the venture and with the money they got from it, they were able to put up Chefs’ Quarters with another group of investors. This time, however, Larry and Mau are the majority owners.

Big move

Chefs Quarter Restaurant and Wine Bar, the first of a series of restaurants that they majority owned, was put up in 2007 at Robinsons Place, Malate. It took Larry and Mau about two years to take the next move, but when they did in 2009, they did it in a big way.

Along with the second Chefs Quarter branch, four other restaurants of different concepts were established one after the other in 2009, alone. These are two branches of Old Vine, Kuse (from the word kusinero) and Uncle Cheffy’s (referring to Chef Mau).

To date, they already have 10 operating restaurants and more are in the pipeline, including an Uncle Cheffy’s in Lipa City, Batangas. All these are doing good, carving their niches in the market.

Although both have solid background in running fine dining restaurants, Larry and Mau decided to go for casual dining that will offer first-class service and good food at affordable prices.

“When I was a waiter, I could not afford to eat steak in a restaurant. With our prices, a waiter can treat himself to a steak lunch or dinner at least once a month,” Larry says.

However, the partners could not resist the call for a fine dining outlet, thus born Beurre Blanc only last year.  The fine dining restaurant is in Resorts World and it offers French-Mediterranean cuisine.

Uncle Cheffy – which offers “global cuisine” featuring slow-cooked brick oven-baked specialties such as spare ribs, barbecues and “panizza” – has the most number of branches now, four including one in Lipa City, Batangas.

Larry and Mau are also offering Uncle Cheffy for franchise, with the Lipa restaurant the first franchised outlet.

People, food

While Larry may be the brains of the business, Mau is the heart and both have their specific tasks to do to ensure the success of their business.

Larry manages the business and its people, while Mau takes care of the kitchen and all the food their restaurants are carrying.

The managing partner gives high priority to their people, now 350 and still increasing. “You can’t grow a business unless you grow your people,” he says.

Larry personally does the training of their people. “That’s something I don’t delegate,” he says.  He inspires and motivates them to do the best they can and, if warranted, disciplines those who go astray.

The food department belongs to Mau. He ensures they have the best possible fares for their clients. He takes the lead in the continuing innovation efforts of the group.

To keep their diners, all member-restaurants of the group regularly come out with new products.

“We retain the winning products and replace the others with new products every six months or so,” Larry says.

Larry admits he and Mau have already achieved their initial goal of having a chain of restaurants. However, they have apparently set a new one – to grow the chain to 500 restaurants in 12 years.

“It started as a joke but it will likely become a real goal. It is good to aim really high, so we will have a reason to continue striving and working hard.”

He admits it can be scary at times. “But if you love and know by heart what you are doing, you can overcome the fear.”