Metro Central’s RJ Ledesma and 1st Colonial Grill’s Bong Aspe Share Their Insights On How To Boost Bug Business

hereWhen it comes to ensuring that your food business becomes a success, it takes more than just a good concept and a good product. You need a flexible foundation and a strong internal structure that allows your organization to adapt to the times.

And for entrepreneurs -  multi-awarded author and personality RJ Ledesma of Mercato Central and Bong Aspe of 24K Corporation, the company behind 1^st Colonial Grill - one of the key characteristics of a healthy business organization is its digital flexibility.

“In order to become more competitive in today’s market, you have to use all the tools at hand, which means maximizing digital platforms, social media networks, and such,” begins Ledesma, underlining the need to have a reliable digital partner.

According to Aspe, even in a market dominated by food giants and foreign franchises, you can still make your fledgling food concept/ restaurant competitive by being smart and innovative in your marketing. For the founder of 24K Corporation, “We don’t have the big budgets to place ads on national TV. However, we saw that we could strengthen our online presence and be more strategic in marketing by utilizing social media and the different available mobile tools.”

For the two seasoned businessmen, MyGlobe Business has been pivotal and integral in leveling up their enterprises.

MERCATO CENTRALE: Start-ups and incubation

Ledesma’s Mercato Centrale was established in 2010, and was promoted as the country’s premier night food market. But it has since transformed to become a powerful small food business incubator.

Now, through its partnership with Globe MyBusiness, Mercato Centrale has launched the Restaurant Business Network[CFPC1] , which helps small entrepreneurs on a wider, more meaningful scale. “We’re building an entire ecosystem that supports all food entrepreneurs. We’ve streamlined processes and brought in partners to help them address the unique and specific pain points of their businesses,” says Ledesma. 

As a one-stop shop, Mercato Centrale can help entrepreneurs scale up their businesses by providing assistance in branding and design, basic bookkeeping, marketing, accounting, product development, purchasing, and even the processing of permits and food safety certifications.

24K CORPORATION: The Golden Dream

For Aspe, communication is crucial to food operations, especially if you’re managing several branches across the country and are working with many different partners and suppliers. “Your communication has to be tight; there’s no room for confusion. Because one mistake in communication can have serious repercussions down the production line,” he says in the vernacular.

In all his offices, Aspe trusts only Globe to power their operations and communication. “I like Globe MyBusiness, because everything (services and products) work in harmony with each other, and their after sales service is good,” he says.

Apart from 10 1^st Colonial Grill branches, Aspe also manages six Potato Corner franchises and is launching a new Taiwanese chicken food concept. “Aside from ensuring that your food/ product tastes good, you can make your company more competitive by introducing innovation, which we’ve done with 1^st Colonial Grill.” The restaurant became a viral hit when they launched their sili ice cream.  “We’ve also adopted innovation in the sense that we’ve leveled up our processes and work flow with the help of MyGlobe Business.”

For Ledesma and Aspe,when it comes to business, failure is not an option. Success is simply about finding the right partners and using all the digital tools at hand to help you scale up.

Create your own recipe for success by discovering how Globe MyBusiness can automate and grow your restaurant with business-grade connectivity and solutions. As you level up with Globe MyBusiness’ solutions, get the chance as well to win a trip to France, in partnership with Metro Channel’s The Crawl.

The promo runs from July 5 to September 15, 2019, and is open to all Globe MyBusiness customers who are restaurant/ café/ food business owners. Participants must have purchased and activated a Globe MyBusiness ICT solution for their food business within the promo period.

For more information about Globe MyBusiness and the promo, click here