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Photo below: Clockwise, ChefAdam, Chef Dietmar and Chef Tom Click the photo to read what they have to say.
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Most local businessmen commonly refer to Cebu as THE testing ground for any product or service one would like to ascertain for marketability. This unspoken but popular thinking had remained unchallenged for quite sometime. Toque of the City (TOC) had heard countless anecdotes about various businesses not being able to crack the Cebu market and quite a few about others who reaped the rewards for successfully penetrating it. One wonders if this is just one of those urban myths. What makes the Cebuano any different from other local consumers? Does this penchance to be discriminating in purchases extend to the Cebuano’s taste for food? TOC took time out to interview three of Cebu’s top executive chefs from the city’s top hotels. TOC wanted to find out what they do differently, how they manage to please the discriminating Cebuanos… not to mention international tourists and travelers who now skip Manila to discover the Pearl of the South. |
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Chef Adam Rozemaryniwycz Chef Adam’s easy warmth belie the pressure of running the kitchen of Cebu’s most prestigious hotel. Chef Adam can put one at ease. Perhaps this is because he had tours of duty in Hongkong, Beijing and Malaysia (not to mention in the prestigious, ultra-chic Hongkong Jockey Club!) - - - Asian cities or countries that are so much like the Philippines in a number of ways. According to Chef Adam, sixty percent of Shangri-La Hotel Mactan’s guests are foreigners and forty percent are locals. He explains that Shangri-La Mactan, which is really not just a hotel but a resort-hotel, does not just cater to guests for a bit of R&R but also those doing business. Most of the time though, it is a combination of both – those trying to have a bit of R&R while doing business in Cebu. Hence, the facilities as well as the food, caters to a wide range of customers from all nationalities, all ages and all walks of life. On a daily basis, the hotel serves 3,000 diners in all of the hotel’s 10 outlets combined. The hotel’s fare consists of the daily specials, the buffets and the weekend promotions that has started to attract quite a following among the locals. The hotel’s menu is a product of countless random tasting done by Chef Adam and his team. Every dish served passed through a rigorous process that starts with the selection of the finest ingredients from the hotel’s roster of suppliers to the menu development and final presentation. This sense of option… of having choices, seems to be working well for the Cebuanos. The hotel’s growing number of local diners can attest to that. Click here to go back<< |
Chef Kenneth Tom Hines Chef Tom’s friendly demeanor and infectious laugh adds much to the boyish charm he unconsciously exudes. His genuine interest in people, in what they do and how they think can make one sit for hours talking to the man. He listens, he observes and he asks questions. Perhaps it is this trait that had enabled Chef Tom to incisively and intuitely grasp the Cebuano diners’ definition of value for money. Having had major stints in Manila as well as other parts of the globe, Chef Tom has a good idea of how to please the Filipino diner. He however found out that not all the rules stands true in Cebu. In Cebu, value for money is a rule, never an exception – even for a premier hotel. For the Cebuano, spending is never an issue if one receives the same value for the money spent. The Cebuanos, Chef Tom intimates, is harder to please not because they want to play difficult but simply because their expectations are higher. Any business establishment in Cebu must observe three things if it is to survive, Chef Tom adds. Its quality, consistency and above all, cost in every dish that will be served. According to Chef Tom, Marriott Hotel Cebu strategically caters to the foreign business traveller which makes up seventy percent of the hotel’s guests. The hotel serves a daily average 1,500 meal servings combined for room service and hotel dining. The hotel’s menu fare consists of international buffets, nightly themes and Sunday brunches. Every now and then, the hotel’s management team plans out an event that brings a fresh and welcome respite from the daily offerings. The hotel’s Valentines, Mother’s Day, and other similar events have packed local crowds and have captured the Cebuano’s flair for food and celebrations. For Marriott Hotel Cebu, great food, good value and lots of fun does translate to good business. Click here to go back<< |
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Chef Dietmar Dietrich Chef Dietmar cannot be mistaken for anybody else but a chef. The man looks like he was born to be one. He can speak about anything and everything food and just as quickly talk about the details of running a kitchen in the same breath. One can observe how others defer to Chef Dietmar, seeking out his approval or simply his nod in just about everything related to the kitchens he runs efficiently. Unlike Shangri-La Mactan and Marriott Cebu, seventy percent of Waterfront Cebu City Hotel and Casino (CCHC) guests are local travellers and businessmen. Even if the majority of their guests are locals, Waterfront’s international buffet fare, fusion dishes and monthly themed culinary events and promotions continue to draw its own following. According to Chef Dietmar, the more your customer travels, the more open he becomes to various tastes and flavours. |
The popularity of various international dishes served in Waterfront CCHC merely affirms Chef Dietmar’s belief that the hotel’s local patrons are the travelling lot. Chef Dietmar thinks that Cebu diners are particular about taste. More than taste however, he adds, more than getting the customers to like the dishes the first time they try it, is consistency. The ability to maintain the same quality that made the diner like the dish the first time around. Chef Dietmar believes that price is not the top concern of Cebuano diners, but quality. And more than that, consistency. With nine outlets to run, and ten to twelve functions in a given week, one wonders how Chef Dietmar is able to maintain the same high level of efficiency his kitchens are run on a daily basis. But then again, that’s consistency and that is how Chef Dietmar wants it to be. Click here to go back<< |
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