Congo Grille returns to its roots in Morato area

MANILA, Philippines - Congo Grille started 10 years ago in Scout Albano, near Tomas Morato, as a Sytin family-owned casual dining restaurant designed for families wanting the best Filipino food in big servings at very affordable price. It had a sitting capacity of 350. Years later, it closed down this outlet as it moved to the parking level of the Ayala-owned Trinoma Mall, where it continues to operate.

Last June 3, 2009, Congo Grille— this time owned by nine partners but still sporting the same qualities of affordability, value for money and cozy casual dining experience for families— revisited its roots and opened its 10^th company-owned 220-seater store right at Tomas Morato at the corner of Sct. Limbaga before a lunchtime crowd composed mostly of friends, family members and the media.

Tomas Morato Street is a logical site for our food business because Morato is known as the food and bar strip of Quezon City, where people scout for their choice of cuisines and gimmicks, said Calvin Millado, one of nine business partners in this outlet. He is a business partner in 5 branches.

The Morato store can comfortably sit 250, including the al fresco dining for smokers, and has an all-occasion function room (of 30 to 40 people). “In fact we would like to hold social functions like birthdays, graduations, anniversaries, debuts and get- together to formal business or organizational meetings and other events, Millado said.

Though it formally opened its doors that lunchtime, it had soft opening two weeks before where the partners found out that despite the operation of so many restaurants and grilles in Morato, “the room is still big enough for us and other locators as Morato is like a village within a village,” he added.

Was opening a restaurant during a global recession a big gamble? Millado said, “we have been operating for the past 10 years. We have learned vital lessons from the Asian financial crunch and we can apply our learning from that period to our current situation,” Millado said adding that “this unique advantage of having 10 years of learning is what will keep our company ahead of the rest who are facing the crisis just now.”

He said the nine partners, and Kenneth Sytin, one of the first founders, have maintained prudence and conservative outlook in their operations opting not to go ahead with franchising until after 10 years of track record.

“Now, after 10 years, we are more than ready to get into franchising. In fact we have had a lot of inquiries from our first franchising participation at the SMX in Mall of Asia last January and we are now in the process of thoroughly screening the offers,” Millado said.

If we are lucky, we will add one or two more outlets this year. Maybe it will be franchised outlet or maybe company-owned outlets. We are still feeling the market, he said.

Its best performing outlets are those at SM Mall of Asia, Westgate in Alabang, SM Fairview and SM San Lazaro.

Now that Congo Grille has a commissary in Cubao, it is able to offer its customers over 200 dishes on the menu — though some may have been replaced by new dishes — in any or all of its 10 outlets, Millado said.

Congo Grille is now finalizing arrangements to put up a store in Araneta Center in Cubao by August this year .