"WHEN you visit Cagayan de Oro, when you dine at a certain restaurant, we can guarantee that Kagay-anons will give you a good service. Yun ang gusto ko."
This is what Dan Jose Dy Yuchayco, a lecturer/trainer on Food and Beverage Services, Hotel Housekeeping Services, and Effective Customer Services for the Department of Tourism-Northern Mindanao and Caraga, said as he works on making Cagayan de Oro City as the center for good service in hotel and restaurant for the tourism industry.
Yuchayco was born June 27, 1968 in Cantilan, Surigao del Sur. He finished his Bachelor of Science in Hotel and Restaurant Management at Lourdes College, Cagayan de Oro City in 1989.
The 50-year-old hotel, restaurant and tourism consultant, before doing lectures and trainings for DOT-Northern Mindanao and Caraga, has been in the teaching profession for several years in various schools.
"Actually, ang nangyari at that time many years ago, HRM (Hotel and Restaurant Management) teachers are so in demand, and the teachers are very few only. Then I was the first one here, luckily, na naging assessor for Tesda (Technical Education and Skills Development Authority) for hotel and restaurant areas," Yuchayco said.
His experience as a Tesda NC II assessor in the tourism sector and the hotel and restaurant management field became the catalyst for a number of teaching opportunities offered to Yuchayco.
In 1996, Yuchayco became a trainer for Bucerne Foundation for five years. He, then, worked in Oro International Caregiver Training Center in 2003 wherein he met his colleagues and friends that helped and been with him in his hectic journey of being a teacher for several colleges here in the city.
He also worked as a part time college instructor at Mindanao University of Science and Technology in 2006 and in Lourdes College in 2007, Hotel and Restaurant Management Department Head in STI College Cagayan de Oro City in 2006, and a trainer in Skills Mastery Institute (SMI) in 2006.
However, he temporarily stopped his teaching and training career when he flew to Singapore and worked in a bar for two years.
According to Dan, even though he's been juggling several classes during his part time jobs in several schools, it was only when he worked in Singapore that he felt stressed out.
"Ang nangyari doon, parang pinakita lang sa akin ni Lord na this is it. Di ba you asked na gusto mong ma-experience na staff ka, na walang-wala ka, hindi ka teacher, you started below. Ito na, binigay ko na sayo," Dan shared as he recalled the gruelling years of working as a janitor and doing other miscellaneous tasks when he was in Singapore.
In 2012, he flew back in the Philippines and went back to doing seminars and trainings for housekeeping, food and beverage service and customer relations.
At present, apart from his continuing career as a lecturer for DOT, Yuchayco continued working as a trainer in SMI.
Even with his unfortunate yet learning experience in Singapore, Dan's passion for providing services did not diminish. In fact, Dan shared that if he ventured into business, he wanted something wherein he will be able to entertain his guests and serve them.
"Kung business side, I want to open a business which is related to this. Something like entertaining people because I love to serve people gyud. Happy ako dun sa mag serve ako kahit walang kainan, basta ma serve lang kita," Yuchayco said.
Currently, Dan is the managing consultant for Burrow Bar and Brew, a shop located in Capistrano-Mabini Street, Cagayan de Oro City.
According to Dan, he wanted to teach and train the people in the food and beverage services, housekeeping, front office, hotel and restaurants of the basics in customer services and hotel and restaurant management as they are something that are always needed even in the current era where everything is almost digital.
Through his knowledge, he's hopeful and determined to make Cagayan de Oro as a city known for its excellent service.
"What I want to happen for the hotel and restaurant industry, which happens to be in the tourism sector, kung ano yung ma-contribute mo, ano yung gusto mong mangyari, gusto ko sana na lahat ng restaurants dito will have a uniform service, I want them to have excellent service when they serve the customer. Yun ang gusto ko," Yuchayco said.
"I want Cagayan de Oro to be the center for good service in hotel and restaurant for the tourism industry. I want Cagayan de Oro City to be the best in service, quality service, kung baga the right service," he added.
With his knowledge and skills and with the positive trend of Cagayan de Oro’s tourism industry, Dan’s dream might not be that far off from happening.