House of Lasagna

This is one house Garfield would surely love to live in.

House of Lasagna is an Italian restaurant that aims to satisfy lasagna lovers like the cartoon character, with their wide varieties of gourmet but affordable lasagna to choose from.

And the huge serving doesn’t hurt, making sure that customers leave the House satisfied and pleased.

Established in 2009, House of Lasagna is the first food business venture of friends Erick Congmon, Jannah Chua Torres, and Yasmin Unda.

It all started when Erick, a chef, accepted personal orders of trays of lasagna from friends and neighbors.  He made his own recipe for the pasta, which proved to be popular among his customers. Having found a niche with this lasagna recipe, he and friends Jannah and Yasmin started House of Lasagna with the help of a corporation of which Jannah and Erick were also a part of.

The three friends have their own businesses, but this was their first foray into the restaurant industry.

The young entrepreneurs banked on their own individual strengths to fortify their teamwork. Chef Erick heads the kitchen and food development. Jannah, who has a corporate events agency, is the marketing and franchise director, and Yasmin is in charge of quality control and operations.

They set up the shop on J. Abad Santos street in Little Baguio, San Juan, as the area was, at that time, slowly transforming into a stretch of hip restaurants and shops.

“As the street developed, we wanted to take advantage so that foodies will notice and see it (House of Lasagna) as a new find for food concepts,” Jannah says.

To be noticed in a string of restaurants, they built their menu around Erick’s own recipes for lasagna, which is a popular kind of pasta for Filipinos.

“We found a niche with those recipes. People like our recipe for lasagna,” shares Jannah.

The restaurant specializes in lasagna with several variants in their menu: the bestselling Beef, Seafood, Pesto, Chicken, Carbonara, Vegetable, Three Cheese, Alfredo, and Lasagna Federico, which is made of 100 percent Angus beef, cheese, black truffle shavings, and chef Erick’s special sauce.

“We’re the only one serving gourmet lasagna in the Philippines which is affordable, unlike other Italian restaurants. We serve freshly-baked lasagna that customers can afford,” says Jannah.

Not just lasagna

Although the restaurant is named House of Lasagna, the menu also includes other food for those who are not into pastas. Erick hails from the Congmon clan of Cebu, which owns the famous Sunburst Fried Chicken restaurant chain in Visayas and Mindanao. Naturally, this southern fried chicken delicacy found its way to House of Lasagna’s menu.

They also serve soups, salads, main dishes, and recently, added other kinds of pastas for more options. And knowing how children have their own preferences, the menu also includes “Kids Plate,” which serves either spaghetti and meatballs, or baked mac and cheese.

“Our core products are our lasagna and southern fried chicken. We believe it’s crucial to have a simple menu for that strong branding,” says Jannah.

To solidify that strong brand, they choose their locations carefully. Places frequented by families and friends, which are their target market, are top priorities. They choose areas with high foot traffic, and top malls, where families or friends hang out. Their brand name already serves as an advertisement for them, catching the attention of pasta-loving Filipinos.

As neophytes in the restaurant business, Jannah shares how they struggled in the beginning.

“We pooled in our personal money for capital when we put up our first branch. We were just three friends putting up resources together,” says Jannah.

Problems with suppliers and manpower, as well as managing the kitchen, were major setbacks that the three eventually resolved.

From that first restaurant on the food haven street in San Juan, House of Lasagna now has branches in V-Mall in Greenhills, Megamall, Eton Centris in Quezon City, and an international branch in Shanghai, China. They plan to add more branches, as well as franchises, in the future.

From the current menu, they plan to expand their pasta line, even coming up with seasonal lasagnas.

“Our lasagna’s taste stands out among the rest because of chef Erick’s own recipes. Customers are assured of our consistent quality and huge serving proportions. We won’t change our products, we’ll just improve more,” Jannah says.

And with their goal of being the top-of-mind brand for pastas, especially lasagna, they have started making deliveries of freshly made pastas anywhere in Metro Manila.

“We want customers to think of us first, so we accommodate orders for deliveries, and you don’t have to call a day in advance. You can order and have the freshly baked lasagna delivered on the same day,” says  Jannah.

Aside from the occasional promos, they also offer loyalty cards for repeat customers, where several perks can be enjoyed.

What started as a hole-in-the-wall restaurant in San Juan has grown gradually, and friends Jannah, Erick, and Yasmin look forward to serving more of that lasagna which, like that cartoon character Garfield, people can’t get enough of.