Comfort food awaits hungry executives

Having originated in Cebu, the restaurant offers Danggit Rice to go with any viand. Yummy desserts are on the menu. By September, there will be 40 Kuya J branches.

If you are going to dream, you might as well dream big.

This seems to be the mantra that motivates Winglip K. Chang, president and chief executive officer of iKitchen Inc. the premier company behind Kuya J restaurant.

Kuya J is a newly-opened restaurant at Megamall (near Our Home). It’s neither low nor high end and has the middle class as its definitive target market.

It is clean, with sturdy chairs, a pleasant ambiance and even a meeting room for private events for around 30 persons.

Crispy pata for the win

What drew me to this restaurant was its crispy pata. The skin is thick but crispy and crackling. The ooey-gooey shimmering fat beneath the skin is the kind that sticks to your teeth. And, not to be upstaged, the meat is moist and succulent.

The waiter brings it to your table on a chopping board then pulls out a giant pair of scissors and cuts it up in front of you.

It is deadly!

Having originated in Cebu, the restaurant offers Danggit Rice to go with whatever viand you order. This is fried rice with a few pieces of crispy danggit standing in the middle of a plate of rice–a perfect combination of salty (danggit) and sweet (rice).

Another Cebu influence is the Sinuglaw–that classic combination of pork belly (liempo) and kinilaw that offers a tango of savory and sour. How can you go wrong with this dish? Also, if you ever crave for those cheesy buttery scallops that are a staple at a lot of Cebu restos, this is the place to get your fix.

Big risk, big rewards

With its straightforward Pinoy menu, Kuya J is not the kind of place to wine and dine clients. It is not fancy at all; more of a restaurant where you can hold an office party. However, I was blown away by the business savvy with which Chang is attacking this industry. While other new restaurants open one at a time, he plans to open 100 branches across the country this year alone!

He seems to be on target, too, although the group has become pickier with its locations. By the end of September, Chang’s group will be opening Kuya J’s 40th branch. It is currently opening three-five restaurants a month!

“We believe we have a good product,” Chang explains. “By product I don’t mean just the food but (the restaurant as a whole), meaning a combination of food, service, ambiance, price points, locations. Given all these, we have a good chance at success (in spite of the big risk).”

A former manager of retail financing for Filinvest Corp., Chang has also studied the market well.

“We believe the market is continuing to grow. We look at indicators. This is not just a blind guess. We have data and information that we gather to look at how the market is performing and we employ certain agencies (to study trends),” he explains.

Growth as advertising

The strategy of opening a hundred branches also serves another purpose: advertising.

“If you open just one store, you would hardly be noticed. It will create a very small ripple,” Chang says, “We want to create brand awareness and brand recognition and this is one of the more effective ways of doing it, since we have the financial capability to do it.”

But Chang makes sure to back up the “advertising” with other measures. First, the group is very selective with locations, using a rigid “site selection criteria” that the group developed to guide it in choosing where to open a branch.

“Choosing a location can be tricky,” Chang confesses, “You can be in a nice place, like a good mall, but the particular space they offer may not be suitable to your clientele, either because of slow foot traffic or too much competition. There are many factors.”

Kuya J also has a Product Board that scrutinizes the menu and ensures continuous improvement and development of products. “Even the present line up (on the menu), although it is good, we want to continue improving it because there are always better ways of doing things, and better equipment to use to make our products even better,” Chang says.

The crispy pata, for example, went through several “tests” before it was finally approved for the Kuya J menu.

“Anybody can cook crispy pata,” Chang confesses, “But our challenge was how to achieve the crispy pata we like, with the crispy skin and the moist laman 50 times a day for each store? We studied this and adjusted our storage, kitchen, etc. to ensure that all restos deliver the proper product.”

Truly Filipino

Chang’s background as a restaurateur actually started with a Chinese restaurant in Cebu, The Grand Majestic. This was a popular restaurant in the province known for its Chinese buffets. Later, he opened 101 Restaurant City, a convention center that is home to The Grand Majestic and Tsay Cheng, a high-end Chinese restaurant.

Later, he took over management of Kuya J and when he brought the brand to Manila, decided to make its Cebuano heritage just a part of the restaurant’s character. Kuya J is now an all-Filipino restaurant whose menu is influenced by flavors that are both Cebuano and Tagalog.

“The demand for Filipino restaurants is so much more than for Chinese restaurants,” Chang says, explaining why he chose to open a Filipino instead of a Chinese restaurant. “Also, we wanted to create a restaurant that is not just for special occasions but something people can go to every day and not get sick of it.”

Chang also deliberately brought down price points (now just at around P350/head) by employing a “competitors check.” “We look at our products and ask ourselves who are our customers and where do they dine? We want to make sure that our prices are not higher. Our prices must either be lower or at least at the same level,” Chang says.

Customers

As final advice to restaurateurs, Chang says that customer satisfaction is key.

“You must treat your customers well. Whether in banking, in the restaurant business, or in other industries. Because customers are the ones giving life to the business. They are of paramount importance,” he stresses.

It seems this man has studied his market well. And he has clearly also learned how to make a damn good crispy pata!

Kuya J Lower Ground Level, SM Megamall Building A (near Our Home)

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