Monday, November 03, 2008 Kaori's Place: Dumpsite no more By Gigie Agtay
THE place standing upfront with difference among the classy videoke bars along the Nova Tierra drive has become a cool watering hole of R & R habitués down north of Davao metropolis.
Unknown to goers, especially those on for bargain hunting for beer guzzler joints with live band musicale these days, they are standing on a former basurahan (dumpsite), urinal of tricycle drivers, neglected area where a sunken, decaying little foliage once thrived.
"This all started with a crazy idea," said Lanife M. Loreto, a former contract worker, a quality controller in an electronic chipmaker in Japan.
"I thought it was really sayang (wasteful one) when I saw the business potential of the place, no one cares," she said.
So she negotiated with the landowner that the rear area of the former Jambalaya canteen she leases be given to her for additional rent.
From 400 square meters, Kaori's Place has now about 1,000 square meters serving most as a bar area, "which makes us the biggest bar in Davao City," Loreto said.
It's not in her plan to extend. But seeing that the foliage can be cleared of the weeds and discards while an overarching tree can be trimmed and hanged with colorful lights, she thought of converting it into an open bar.
Now this place down north has nipa huts for a shot of indigenous feature.
"It's the cool ambience of the bar that makes people keep on coming back to Kaori's. Our customers say it's fresh out here," Loreto said.
The place now sizzles nightly with cowgirls serving bar goers of mixed markets, and the rotating bands and entertainers belting out performances with variety, classic, acoustic, oldies, disco, love or MYMP songs.
A family can have a hearty dine of Kaori's specialty Pinoy cuisines at affordable prices such as the sizzling bulalo, pusit, the sisigs, barbecues, kinupsang baboy or the chitsaron, grilled and buttered foods.
But the lively bar that it is now from the 2006 start came out from the earnings of Lani's other businesses in the adjoining grounds.
But she has been cashing in on first from the former dumpsite where her Karwasan ni Julian stands. It's her first thriving business made from a gut imagery of converting idle dumpsite for livelihood. It started in 2002.
Now she sustains 27 personnel working in her carwash business with an eatery and sari-sari store at its side, a lunch canteen for the employees and workers in varied establishments and business offices at the vicinity, and the Kaori's bar.
But Loreto, now yet single after her divorce from a Japanese hubby seven years ago, suffered, too -- business busts in the past including an entertainment club in Japan and videoke bar cum parlor cum eatery and store near the RPN station at Marfori area in the city.
"But I learned hard lessons and as to the one at Marfori it was a kin running it while I just sent capitalization while I stayed in Japan for 17 years and never managed it," she offered an explanation. "It's still best to do it in our own country. I'm so at home now."
To her, there's no substitute for an entrepreneur managing hands-on his own business. She does the overall operations, including the marketing while personnel are given specific, coordinated, and flexible tasks.
"I'm also the GRO (guest relations officer) here," she beams with laugh.
Business prosperity, she said, comes on timely decisions on expansions and good cash management of limited resources that should be cautiously revolved as they are earned in a hard way. Talk of micro-medium entrepreneur.
As to the global financial meltdown, she says she doesn't care about it, adding that she long heard of the word crisis during her elementary days. But we survive and withstand.
The last time the rice prices hit the sky, the Kaori's amiable owner said she did not experience any slump at all as beer guzzlers keep on drinking, notwithstanding. Talk of the behavior of Pinoy beer drinkers.
"The only thing I'm worried of is the rain," she says as bar goers then would be thin except those who have already taken refuge on the Kaori's nipa huts.
"Those not coming will miss Kaori's delicious specialty food, and for the men, our usual chilled beers," Loreto said.
