The chef as hotelier

Sunday, February 19, 2012

AT THE helm of Days Hotel Philippines is James Puyat Concepcion, both president and executive chef.

He was educated at the prestigious Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) where he finished his Master of Science in Management studies near the top of his class. It was while living in Boston that he discovered the various cuisines that now are served in his restaurants—Chilean, Bolivian, Peruvian, Brazilian, Colombian, Ethiopian, Moroccan, Nigerian, Turkish, Kazakh, Sri Lankan, Pakistani and Afghan.

Have something to report? Tell us in text, photos or videos.

Following the success of Ziggurat, a restaurant he put up in Makati City to serve Mediterranean, African, Middle Eastern and Indian food, James set up his first restaurant in Cebu, Santiago Restaurant of South America, in Days Hotel Philippines–Mactan.

The Days Hotel chain welcomed two more hotels in Cebu province recently. These are the Toledo City hotel that opened last Jan. 6 and the Mandaue City hotel that opened last Dec. 8.

Each hotel has 100 guest rooms and suites, aside from large function rooms that will accommodate 300 or more people. Both hotels will also have a coffee shop, specialty restaurant and a lounge/bar for live music. Additionally, the Mandaue hotel has a half-indoor, half-outdoor pool plus a fitness center, spa and hair salon. His ideas for the specialty restaurants are to have Japanese, Spanish and Scandinavian cuisine in Toledo City, and Japanese, Chinese, California and South American Cuisine in Mandaue City.

Through Days Hotel, James has a vision to make Cebu a prime tourist hub not only for the Chinese, Japanese and Korean markets but also for other international tourists that expect world-class accommodations at reasonable rates. At Days Hotel, he said, “We are the best value under the sun.”

If there is anyone who can meet targets, it is James. James finished his Bachelor of Science in Business Economics degree at the University of the Philippines Diliman in 1990.

“I finished my degree in three years. My thesis on the car industry was one of the outstanding ones that year,” he said. “At MIT, I got to attend classes under a Nobel Laureate and some of the best strategy gurus in the world.”

In 2000, James finished near the top of the whole graduating class of MIT with a 96 percent average.

Trendy revo

At Days properties in Tagaytay, Batangas, Cebu-Mactan and Iloilo, eye-opening offerings are dubbed Trendies by Concepcion, who has a way with words, having formerly been the publisher and creative writer for Stopover and JetSet Magazines. In his lateral, creative brainstorms, a Trendy is anything novel in hotel services, be it in the buffet and cocktail offerings to the soaps and pillows.

Did we mention the Trendy aromatherapy massage? Or the Trendy dreams with bedside milk and cookies? What the next Trendy will be is limited only by Concepcion and Days’ imagination.

School for hoteliers

In the hope of giving international standard hotel training to students in smaller cities, James hopes to start his Days Hotel Center of Excellence to help train future hoteliers in the practical aspects of hoteliering. He adds that he has much to share, given his many travels.

He wants to initially set this up in Toledo City and hopefully grow it nationwide with his chain of hotels. He says he wants to share all of his knowledge with the students and would be most proud to see one of his students become more successful than he.

He currently offers familiarization stays at his various hotels where in a week, students get a combination of lecture and actual training in all major departments. He has had over 100 graduates in Batangas City, of whom several are now working abroad.

He even entered into a partnership with the Blas Ople Center to help returning overseas Filipino workers (OFW). This endeavor won for him and Days Hotel the prestigious “Pusong OFW Award.” In fact, the former household help of Libya’s Muammar Qaddafi, Diana Jill Rivera and Mary Ann Ducos, are now supervisors in the Days Hotel in Toledo City after undergoing three months of hotel training.

How many more Cebu comings for James are on the horizon, only time will tell.