Second gen goes into Japanese food biz

Mickey Wieneke

MANILA, Philippines—Mickey Wieneke is not new to the food cart business. His father, Jorge, is one of the first to establish the familiar Potato Corner. The younger Wieneke is making his mark with Tokyo Tempura and is one of PLDT KaAsenso ambassadors.

Wieneke has been on top of the operations of his 16 Tokyo Tempura food carts (so far) since it started over a year ago.

“Everybody is doing what the others are doing,” he says. “You can see food carts that offer milk tea and siomai almost alongside each other.”

He got the inspiration of Tokyo Tempura from his own favorite food: Japanese. It’s true that in many Japanese buffets, shrimp tempura is always the best-seller. However, these restaurants can be expensive for the mass market.

“Pinoys love Japanese food but they have this impression that it’s expensive,” he explains.

Tokyo Tempura, what Wieneke dubs as the first tempura cart in the world, was born. But Wieneke’s strategy is different from what most startup entrepreneurs read in the books.

He wants to expand as fast and as soon as possible to prevent copycats from claiming they were the first.

Aside from his early exposure in managing a business, Wieneke is also a graduate of Culinary Arts from Global Culinary Academy. He also opened Burger Café a few years ago but decided to close down after it didn’t do well.

Tokyo Tempura opened for franchising just months after the first food cart started operations in Sta. Lucia Metroeast. He chose the location because of the foot traffic in the area.

The 16 food carts are a mix of company-owned (two) and franchised ones (14). The franchise package is P250,000, which includes the cart, marketing materials and coaching. Wieneke helps potential franchisees look for locations because he has more experience in the business. Sometimes, he advertises on the Tokyo Tempura’s Facebook page if a good location is found then invites people to become franchisees.

Tokyo Tempura’s biggest market contributor, so far, is Robinsons Galleria which posts an average of P8,000 income in one good day.

As much as Wieneke wants to visit all branches every day to check on operations, it is not possible.

He availed himself of the PLDT Telpad since the family has been a subscriber for many years. He has been keeping track of the day-to-day operations through phone and e-mails. It is also his way of protecting the brand he created with friends and partners.

His dedication to the business and belief in micro-entrepreneurship makes him the perfect ambassador of PLDT KaAsenso. It is the telecommunications company’s initiative to empower and encourage people to become entrepreneurs.

“Minigosyantes” can get access to tools and programs to help their minigosyos progress into profitable and sustainable enterprises. In addition to communication services, PLDT KaAsenso also provides the Filipino minigosyante with marketing tools, financing support, and extra income opportunities.

Like any startup or established entrepreneurs, Wieneke faced various challenges with Tokyo Tempura. The first challenge was how to make their product, the tempura, interesting to consumers. With the help of an industrial chef, he created a different kind of batter for the tempura. He also comes up with different coating or flavor so consumers can look forward to something every month.

Another challenge is the location. He had to close one branch after only a few months of operations because it was not earning. He was surprised that it didn’t do well despite the fact that the place is near the church and a wet market so foot traffic was assured.

Wieneke learned that it is not just important that there’s foot traffic but also the kind of market the location is servicing.

“It is very important to do the homework and do more research,” he says.

Connectivity is an essential tool to any business now. A business owner should be able to run the business wherever he is. PLDT’s answer to that is the KaAsenso.

“The fact that our local entrepreneurs are getting younger by the year indicates positive development,” Patrick Tang, head of PLDT Home Voice Solutions, says. “It means more of today’s youth are embracing entrepreneurship as a career and way of life—not merely something to tide them over. We at PLDT KaAsenso are excited over this new trend.” Created to help realize the full potential of the micro-business sector, PLDT KaAsenso offers a portfolio of communication services and programs customized especially for start-ups, youth-run ventures, etc.

(More details on PLDT KaAsenso are available at www.pldthome.com/kaasenso)