From foodie to restaurateur

DAVAO. Cheska Jopson realized that learning is a continuous process and that innovation is a primary key to success when running a food business.
DAVAO. Cheska Jopson realized that learning is a continuous process and that innovation is a primary key to success when running a food business.

STARTED out as just a foodie who loves to eat, Cheska Jopson decided she doesn’t want to just eat the food she can. Instead, she wants to learn the art and sciences of cooking among many other things. Now, she co-owns and co-manages the Epicurious Gastropub, a young restaurant along Bonifacio St., Davao City.

Jopson is a Communication Arts graduate from the University of the Philippines Mindanao. What made her decide to go into a restaurant business with two other friends is primarily her love for food and her great interest to delve in deeper and involve herself into the culinary experience.

After working for an IT company for about three years, Jopson decided she would want to expand her love of food into learning the culinary basics and complexities including the experimenting parts. She enrolled in a six-month culinary course at Most Institute Culinary School in C.M. Recto.

In this six-month period, she learned everything not only how to make everything from scratch like the sauces and the pastas, she also learned the business side of running a food establishment. They were taught about the operations and the accounting aspect of the business.

Being a naturally timid woman that she is, her culinary class at Most also trained her to be more confident as she started joining different competitions representing her class and her school. Through time, these competitions made her a better chef.

“I love eating and experimenting when cooking. But I learned that no matter how you self-teach yourself, it is always better if you go to a formal culinary school,” Jopson said.

Just January of last year, two of her friends from her previous job and were also foodies just like her, contacted her to collaborate and establish a restaurant business. Together with Alexes Flores Cruz and Mary Joy Bangay, Jopson was able to establish Epicurious Gastropub.

Epicure is someone who constantly seeks food and beverage while gastropub is a British word of a restaurant, said Jopson.

They decided to start out the restaurant as something that offers international cuisine – from Asian, especially Filipino, to European food. However, after months and months of operation, Jopson said they have innovated and did some minor adjustments with their menu as they have adapted their customers’ preferences through time.

“Most of our customers are millennials and families that are dining here together. We found out the need to always innovate based on the liking of our customers. Almost every two months, we have new items on the menu. We also remove those we notice that are not as saleable,” said Jopson emphasizing the need for continuous and regular innovation fit for the customers.

As they are just a few meters away from the University of Immaculate Conception Bonifacio, they have also added student meals, pizza, and soup dishes to their menu which weren’t available when they started.

Being a full-time handler of the business, Jopson learned that the challenges in running a restaurant business lie on building a name and a brand from zero. However, once people got to know Epicurious Gastropub, they kept coming back. Another challenge she experienced is on handling people especially that one needs to have the skills and the right attitude in order to be fit and would last long in a job.

Jopson now functions as an executive chef, corporate secretary, social media marketing manager, purchaser, inventory manager, and food stylist and photographer. So far, she enjoys this multiple role she plays as she gets to learn a lot in the business through her experiences. JPA

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