Cecil’s Café: Turning guests into friends
SILANG, CAVITE—The sign at the front door says it all. Cecil’s Café wishes to offer a warm, friendly place where families and friends can come together to savor the home cooked meals of Cecil Inducil – Jacinto.
First time visitors are often impressed with the dining place’s picture perfect interiors, thanks to the Cecil’s interior design background.
Her interest in food started in her youth as she grew up in a family that loved to entertain at home. She carries the same mindset in her current endeavor as she describes the way she treats her guests at the café, “I’m having a party in my house.”
Cecil simply started in the early 90s by selling mango squares and date bars at Christmas time. Eventually, she partnered with a coffee shop located along Jupiter Street in Makati where she did all the cooking and baking. Her commissary was in her home. She also started a full service catering business around 2006.
In October 2011, she finally decided to open her very own café in an obscure location right before the Adventist University along the Sta. Rosa Highway going to Tagaytay. Cecil relates that she would receive business advice that “location, location, location” are very important factors. She asserts that there are out-of-way establishments that have managed to gain a clientele simply through word of mouth.
Cecil’s family also has a farmhouse in Talisay that she offers to friends and visitors who are looking for a place to unwind. It’s a two-bedroom house that can accommodate an ideal capacity of 6 persons.
She advises that one has to be passionate about what one does. “You do 20 percent work and the rest you have to enjoy,” she says. Adequate capital plus good, trustworthy staff are also needed.
Cecil who also does the cooking at her café emphasizes the importance of being hands-on in her small business. “I know how to cook and I know how to clean,” she summarizes.
Another irresistible attraction at her quaint café is the Chinese lumpia also known as fresh “Amoy” (Xiamen, China) lumpia that was popularized at Green Patio Restaurant, her mother’s former dining place in Greenhills.
Cecil relates that during its peak, the restaurant used to sell about 500 pieces a day. The only difference now is that Cecil uses crepe wrappers instead of the typical thin wrappers from the grocery.
Cecil’s Café is open from Tuesday to Sunday 11 am to 6 pm. For directions and reservations, call 0920-915-7517.
