KUYA J now has 67 outlets all over the Philippines from up in Baguio, down to Zamboanga. It certainly has come a long way since its birth, years ago, in a garage at a side street off Osmeña Blvd., Cebu City. When the original owner decided to move to Canada, i.Kitchen Inc. took over with the objective of having 200 Kuya J outlets, says i.Kitchen president and chief executive officer Winglip Chang.
The flagship outlet at Escario St., Cebu City opened in January 2013. Chang says it has retained some of the favorites of the previous Kuya J menu like the crispy catfish, grilled scallops, sinuglaw and crispy pata, and added new items like roast chicken, danggit rice and lumpia fresco (which won in a Manila competition—malunggay leaves have been added to the lumpia wrapper dough), and a really delicious halo-halo, made with ice the texture almost of ice cream.
“Kuya J offers Filipino food at reasonable prices, so acceptance is there. We cook the food with essentially good ingredients and cook it the proper way. No short cuts. If you don’t use good ingredients and you don’t cook it right, your product will not be okay. We try to improve the flavor. We try to improve constantly. We listen to comments and constructive criticism, and figure out how to do better. We have problems of sourcing, of hiring qualified people to work for us. Recruitment of people is a challenge for us. It is important to have an effective organizational structure and we have to fill the positions with effective managers and personnel,” said Chang.
“The food is really good. The price is reasonable. Though not fine dining, i.Kitchen Inc. makes sure the restaurant’s interiors are nice and clean, the tableware and silver and glassware are of good quality and the kitchen is state of the art (computerized),” he continued.
Right now, Chang revealed that about 50 of the Kuya J outlets are in Luzon. But there are outlets in other islands of the Visayas, as well as in some provinces in Mindanao, including five in Davao. He is confident that the corporate objective of having 200 Kuya J outlets will be met by the second quarter of 2018 because the product is good: Tasty Filipino dishes acceptable to the Filipino palate, and at really reasonable prices.