Who says you can’t go into business with family? Or your spouse?
In any relationship that dares crossing over to business, there seems to be more risk than there is profit. But some partnerships prove that to knock out competitors in this industry and remain happy at home, you need trust, professionalism, and enormous amounts of determination.
Nowie and Odette Potenciano
Sunny Side Group owners Nowie and Odette Potenciano are known for how they value their staff above all else. When Boracay underwent rehabilitation last year, they made sure to leave no one behind despite the financially crippling impact of the closures. Though the Potencianos knew that they could save more if they didn’t provide temporary employment for their staff, it wouldn’t make them happy.
They were on vacation in Boracay in 2005 when they first realized the need for a good ice cream place. As they both share a love for anything sweet, they began with a franchise of Fruits in Ice Cream, which they eventually expanded around the country. Soon enough, Fling Frozen Yoghurt was added and then came their own brand of ice cream-filled mochi called Mochiko.
In their portfolio, they have The Sunny Side Café, Spicebird, and Supermagic Burgers in Boracay where they serve the 95 percent of tourists that make up majority of their customers. Their wide selection of all-day breakfast, barbecue, burgers, and desserts has reimagined what it means to market your brand today.
Gabbi Ramos-Flores and Jack Flores
The former New York-based chefs brought their concept Made Nice Supper Club to the Philippines in 2016, a business they formed with Jack’s college friends before returning to the country. Now simply Made Nice, they’ve distanced themselves from the (too) experimental ideas they’ve thrown in for the sake of making their food impressive and instead turning to a more casual fine dining menu with Western-Asian flavors.
At their new Rockwell location, they decided to “grow up” with a friendlier, more familiar Made Nice. From serving “whatever the hell they wanted,” they’ve now learned to combine an inspiring narrative with food that would resonate with customers in the long run.
Jeremy and Jen Slagle
When they discovered that their life in the kitchen and their even busier life at home is going to cause a charged kind of chaos, classically trained French chefs Jeremy and Jen Slagle put up Mister Delicious in 2016 to bring “slow cooked, real foods accessible to busy people.”
Their frozen food preserved at its peak of freshness guarantees high quality that’s normally thought of as impossible when it comes to precooked cuisine. But aside from their online food venture, the Slagles are also concept consultants that twist visual ideas to new ends, especially seen in Hole in the Wall and Local Editions, then linking those skills directly with menu development, costing, auditing, and even staff training.
Confidence and hype will always be present when it comes to putting up a new restaurant, but the couple has continually proven that creative vision without reality and pragmatism can only take you so far. For them, it’s this kind of mindset that ensures the survival of a business.