‘Chef Carlos’ and his recipe for the American dream

Among the 250 students of St. Raphael Catholic School and Lutheran Church of the Cross Day School in St. Pete, Florida, my son, Carlos Agatep, Jr., nicknamed "Jigger", is fondly called "Chef Carlos". That’s because when the school children line up for lunch, they tease him with that name and hope he would give them a second helping of fish fry, chicken teriyaki, hamburger special or homemade pizza.

By word of mouth, throughout the city of St. Pete, Jigger is already known as "Chef Carlos" and his food company, the Agatep Affordable Catering Services, Inc. (AACS) has emerged as the favorite supplier of daily luncheons for schoolchildren and reasonably-priced sitdown dinners for large parties.

In just over a year, AACS has acquired a six-door commercial property on a prime 5,000-square meter lot along the national highway, fronting one of St. Pete’s private hospitals. Two doors are used as the company’s modern, fully equipped kitchen and stockroom while the rest are rented out to retail shops operated by Americans. There are 15 parking slots for the customers.

The company employs two American cooks while Jigger’s lovely Peruvian wife, Yolanda Cepeda, takes care of gaining clients and bringing in the sales revenue. With the present set-up, Jigger predicts that AACS will further expand to serve the growing retiree population in Tampa and St. Pete. Most of the retirees in the bay area spend their leisure time yachting and fishing and would rather dine out than do their own home cooking.

How did Jigger do it? Unlike other Filipino young men and women who migrated to America to find a job, how did Jigger become an Asian entrepreneur in Florida, making a respectable return on investment and enjoying his favorite hobby of fishing on weekends? Let me relate his story.

As a young boy in our Quezon City home, we called him Jigger, a name we picked from an American movie. As early as then, Jigger showed signs of becoming a seasoned survivor. That’s probably because his ninongs in baptism were Max Soliven (then a brand manager of Procter and Gamble and now the publisher of Philippine STAR) and the late Manila Mayor Antonio Villegas.

At age 14, Jigger would tag along with his mom to the Farmers market in Cubao where Mary would show him how to buy the freshest of fish, meat, vegetables, fruits and condiments. He would soon learn in the kitchen that there are no limits to creative cooking as Mary would teach him how to prepare improvised versions of international and Oriental dishes.

To further hone his passion for cooking, Jigger got a job as trainee in the butchery department of Holiday Inn Manila where he learned to make cured ham, Bologna sausage, Italian salami and hotel-made processed meats.

While studying commerce at the University of the East, Jigger was a vulnerable, carefree young man. He was eager to spend all of his monthly allowance just to entertain his friends. There were times when he would invite his barkada for a weekend at the Baguio Country Club and charge his expenses to my account, to the utter distress of his mom and myself.

It was quite a relief when he left college to become chief steward of a Greek ship whose chief mate was his uncle Francis Adviento, now the general manager of Intermare Shipping. This position gave him the opportunity to travel around the world several times over, cooking for the all Filipino crew, savoring exotic foods in Asia, Europe, Australia and South America.

He later found a job at the airport branch of Holiday Inn Los Angeles. Besides food and beverage operations, he was in charge of the purchasing of food supplies. He learned how to deal with food suppliers, how to negotiate for the cheapest costs, how to properly store food and minimize spoilage, and how to treat the kitchen employees to avoid pilferage of utensils and consummables.

Unfortunately, Jigger got affected by ugly incidents arising from the famous Los Angeles riots. As a result he made a big move to Marriott hotel in St. Pete. But after a year working for a supervisor who didn’t know any better, from 5 a.m. until 2 p.m. on regular days and until 8 p.m. when the hotel occupancy was full, he became restless and impatient.

I sensed this while waiting to board my plane at Tampa airport after a week’s vacation. With conviction he suggested to me to help him acquire a commercial property where he could build his own kitchen and equip this with modern appliances. He asked me if I could please fund the initial downpayment to buy the property which he had already found.

The idea was fascinating at first, but I had my misgivings because I was uncomfortable in raising the sizeable downpayment. Upon arrival in Manila, I asked the opinion of my son Norman and my daughter Monique Ignacio who are both directors of our PR agency, Agatep Associates. We decided to pool our resources together and, voila, we had raised enough funds for the downpayment which was 25 percent of the value of the property.

In one month I was on the plane back to St. Petersburg, and before Christmas of 1999, the property was legally transferred to Jigger and Yolanda. The company is now incorporated with Jigger as the president and Norman, Monique and myself as equal stockholders. From the monthly rental income, we are able to pay the loan amortization.

To start operations, Jigger had to participate in auctions for meat cutters, convection ovens, stainless steel refrigerators, and all kinds of kitchen apparatus. In the process, we must have saved a fortune. He then worked nights and days replacing old tiles, repainting walls, fixing dripping faucets, hiring licensed electricians and getting necessary home improvement permits from City Hall.

That was in the summer of Year 2000. Today, Jigger is working much harder, making daily luncheons for school children, preparing his own brand of sushi for the supermarkets, and serving dinner for 500 people in his church community. But at least he is now working on his own and not as an employee. He has discovered the right recipe for the American dream.