Camille Villar: All Around woman

MANILA, Philippines — Camille Villar breezes into Coffee Project, part of the retail complex that houses AllDay Supermarket and AllHome in Global South, Las Piñas, straight from another store visit all the way across town, in Mandaluyong.

As she settles into the Coffee Project’s soothing ambience, decorated with lush greenery, she says, “We go to great lengths to make sure the music is nice, the ambience is nice and it’s comfortable. That’s part of the Coffee Project DNA and the promise. That’s part of the coffee drinking experience.It’s not just how delicious the coffee is, it’s where you drink it, it’s how you feel while drinking it… It’s an amalgamation of what many different people believe is a good coffee drinking experience.”

A passion project for Camille and her father Manny Villar, the Coffee Project started out because they wanted a nice coffee shop to meet in when they visit the family-run Vista Malls. “It really started because my dad loves coffee,” says Camille. “He is very passionate about coffee and I got that from him. We go around a lot and we both like Americanos – his is hot, mine is iced – that’s our drink.”

AllDay Supermarket and AllHome are housed in a massive one-stop complex

The love of a good cup of coffee is not the only thing the father and daughter tandem share. Ever since Camille, who is director and managing director of Vista Land Commercial and concurrently president of All Value, took up the retail side of the Villar business – after finishing her MBA in Barcelona in 2014 – she has acquired her father’s business sense as well.

“In all of our retail concepts, we don’t want to compromise on the quality. We want to make things affordable, but just because it’s affordable, it doesn’t have to be cheap,” she says. “In everything that we enter, we think of what’s the best from different places and put it together.”

She adds, “My father doesn’t have mediocre standards. He has very high standards. In anything that we do, whether it’s 20 square meters or 15,000 square meters; whether it’s food, it’s playgrounds, it’s a house, it’s a condo… it’s always that – you have to strive to be the best.”

It’s the little details that make the AllHome concept a lifestyle experience, not just a shopping chore.

AllHere

A major component of the retail business is AllHome, a home improvement store that is a combination of everything from construction and hardware, DIY,  to appliances, furniture, kitchenware and decor. “Ultimately it sells convenience,” says Camille. “The person doesn’t have to go to five different places to fill his or her home.”

AllDay Supermarket is one of Camille’s favorite stores. “Shopping is not just about getting the things you need,” she says of the shopping experience that they try to create at the supermarket. “We want to give people a lifestyle experience.”

A unique service offered at the AllDay Supermarket is the paluto or cooking station, where you can buy ingredients from the supermarket and have them whipped up into a delicious meal by the in-house chef.

“This is great if you don’t know how to cook, like me!” Camille says with the laugh. “Everyone likes to have home cooked meals that are healthy for your family. With paluto you know exactly what’s going into your food.” She adds that the paluto station is popular among office workers who are hankering for a home cooked meal during their lunch break.

Bake My Day fills shoppers’ craving for breads and pastries.

“The nice thing about all our retail concepts is that in addition to having world class standards, these are ultimately Filipino brands. So, unlike global brands, we bear in mind what Filipinos like,” says Camille, noting that aside from the paluto concept at AllDay, Coffee Project serves longganisa, tapa and rice – food that you would not expect to find at a foreign coffee chain.

“While we look at best practices around the world, we’re also very conscious about bringing the Filipino taste and flavor into it.”

Camille adds, her parents have been in the housing business for four decades, so this was a logical expansion for them.

“We’ve been building communities for 40 years. There are thousands of people living in the developments. They need places to shop, watch movies, eat… that’s why we started Vista Malls… Ultimately it’s an answer to what we believe our homebuyers need. We don’t want to just give them a home. We want to give them a really nice place to live. These are the things you need for that.”

The paluto station is a unique and hugely popular service offered by AllDay.

AllTogether

Every AllDay Supermarket has a bright red truck at its entrance, filled with produce. While it may simply look like a creative storefront display, there is a special story behind it.

“My dad had a gravel and sand hauling business even before he went into housing,” shares Camille. “I think it was in 1975. He was 25 years old and he bought two used trucks to deliver gravel and sand to his clients.” Seeing his clients construct houses, Villar decided that he could get into the housing business too  – and the rest is history.

The original truck – now on display at the Sipag and Tiyaga museum – resembles the iconic red trucks of the AllDay supermarket, which stand as a reminder to Camille of the hard work her father put into building the family business.

“I’ve been woking with my dad my whole life. I really don’t know any other way. I enjoy it very much,” says Camille on working with her father.

The Coffee Project is a passion project of Camille and her father, Manny. She envisions it to be a place with not just good coffee but good vibes – nice music, good ambiance – where friends and family can hang out.

Both are very hands on in running the business. They enjoy going around to visit the stores together. Camille says they check and taste everything themselves – even the AllDay convenience store siopao, chicken and rice meals!

She adds everyday is a learning experience. “It’s nice to work with him and I learn what I can. He’s been through so much in his life – ups and downs – from nothing, he’s built so many things. He has so much wisdom to impart and if I can get even just a portion of that, I feel like I’m well on my way.”

Some of the best advice that she’s gotten from her father – for both business and life – is: “You don’t achieve success without working for it. You have to be resilient. When you make mistakes, you have to get yourself together and start again. When you fail, you have to figure out why. You have to learn from it. That makes the failure valuable.”

The wisdom that Camille has been gaining in working with her father is something that she would like to impart as well to her son Tristan, now two.

The Villars: former Senate president Manny, Senator Cynthia, Camille, Vista Land president and CEO Manuel Paolo and Secretary of Public Works and Highways Mark.

“I joined the company after I graduated in 2006, but really I’ve been around the housing and real estate industry since I was five,” she says, sharing that ever since she was young, the family would go to open houses on weekends where the kids would learn the ins and outs of the housing business. Her father also used to bring her to meetings, and the precocious five-year-old once asked where the homeowners would play basketball and where the kids could play. That led to the inclusion of clubhouses, sports facilities and other amenities in their housing developments.

In the same way, Camille brings her son to the office when she can. “That’s how I grew up and it’s also how I got my work ethic because I saw my parents at work. It’s also how at a young age I came to enjoy what they did.”

On being a mother, she says, “It’s inspiring. Because I’m a mom, I’m more aware of making everything kid-friendly. The malls are kid-friendly. You see things in a different light.”

AllBusiness

When asked about going into another field that the family is known for – politics – Camille says she’s not closed to the idea. “But for now, I don’t see myself there because there are so many other exciting things to do. I feel like I have lots of things to juggle. I think that it’s something that you have to be ready for also, something that you have to enter for the right reasons to be able to do well.”

She adds, “The things that you do in public service, you can do in a private capacity. Even if you are in the private sector, you can still help and do your part. My dad continues to do so, I continue to do so. We’re lucky to have the means to give back. You don’t really have to be in politics to be of service.”

For now, it’s all business for the young entrepreneur. “I’m an operations person. I like being here when they set up. I think there’s no other way to learn about your business than being present. You can never run a business from an office far from where you are. The stuff you learn in school, your MBA, while it helps, it’s not enough. It’s really important to be present in your project from beginning to end. Because then you see what the real life difficulties are.”

There are already 17 Vista Malls in the metropolis, but Camille’s team plans to raise that number to 25 malls and lifestyle centers this year. They will soon open establishments in Iloilo and Naga City.

By 2020, they hope to have 50 Vista Malls and lifestyle centers all over the country.

When asked what it’s like to accomplish so much and lead a company at such a young age, Camille says, “I don’t feel like it’s a lot. In fact, I feel like I could be doing more. My dad did so much by the time he was 30. It’s actually a lot of pressure. We all try to make our difference. My dream is to make a difference in the retail industry, the same way my dad has made a mark in the housing industry.”

She adds, “While we’re small, I want to be innovative and we want to build the brand. My dream is for AllHome, AllDay Supermarket, Vista Mall to become well-known national brands, synonymous with a very good, unique retail experience for the consumers.”

For her, success is built by working hard everyday – AllDay. As a woman in the business sector, she says, “Anything is possible. I don’t think there is anything a man can do that a woman cannot do – equal to, if not better. I think another aspect of women is our family. We care about our partners, we care about our parents, our siblings, our children in a different way. I feel like the pressure to do well at work is just as important as the pressure to raise my son well.”

Camille continues, “I’m sure a lot of working moms feel the same way – you just get through it day by day. I don’t have the answer to how you do it. I’m also trying to figure it out. I just give the best that I can and I’m just praying that it all turns out well. There’s a lot of happiness and fulfillment that comes with work and being a mom, and family, but at the same time, it’s also a lot of work. I just try to do my best everyday.”