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CNN Philippines
  • 7/28/2023
From bringing romance to the big screen, actor Marvin Agustin is now showing off his love for food as an owner of three restaurants, among them Cochi Bistro.

Marvin shares his secret behind success as a restaurateur as he joins us in the studio.

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00:00 [Music]
00:07 From bringing romance to the big screen,
00:09 actor Marvin Agustin is now showing off his love for food
00:13 as an owner of three restaurants, among them Cochi Bistro.
00:17 Marvin shares his secret as a restaurateur,
00:19 joining us now live in the Final Words studio.
00:23 Marvin, great to see you. After all these years,
00:26 finally you're here for an interview.
00:28 Thanks for having me.
00:30 Alright, you were a successful actor
00:32 and famous with your love team, with Jolina Magdangal.
00:36 But of course, with your hard-earned earnings in entertainment,
00:41 you did not buy expensive clothes, bags, and cars.
00:44 You invested on food. Why so?
00:48 Well, I was a waiter, mascot, before acting.
00:54 Actually, people forget about that already.
00:57 Humble beginnings.
00:59 Yes, the struggle before acting.
01:02 So it's just like going back to the first love,
01:06 which is the food business.
01:10 From that experience, being an employee,
01:14 I think this is the time that I could impart that experience
01:20 to my team right now.
01:22 Because restaurant is about experience.
01:25 Yes, we sell food, but it's really experience
01:28 that we try to give our customers.
01:31 What an inspiration, being a waiter, mascot,
01:35 working from the trenches, starting from the bottom up.
01:40 I was 15 when I was doing that.
01:42 15? But I'm sure to be a restaurateur, to be a chef,
01:47 and at the same time, of course, being a celebrity and an actor,
01:51 I'm sure you had some inspirations, both local and foreign,
01:56 to be where you're at right now, Marvin.
02:00 More than people that would inspire me,
02:05 there are a lot of them, but really,
02:09 we had a very challenging childhood, me and the family.
02:13 So it's really, we needed to survive.
02:18 And that character, actually, until up to this day,
02:21 it's something that I would say I have, that hunger,
02:25 that being able to adjust and adapt
02:30 any time and every time there would be a situation.
02:33 Like, for example, pandemic, COVID.
02:36 Actually, I was listening to your interview with Secretary,
02:39 and very, very hopeful for us restaurateurs,
02:42 for us entrepreneurs in the Philippines, very hopeful.
02:45 Things are indeed looking up, despite rising inflation,
02:50 high prices of food products.
02:53 You have to deal with a lot of these problems,
02:55 not only building a brick and mortar,
02:59 running the online digital platform.
03:02 How do you get to jumble all of these responsibilities?
03:05 Plus, of course, all the accounting.
03:08 Yeah. Restaurateurs are the most agile,
03:11 because we're faced with different situations every day.
03:15 Not just with our customers,
03:17 not just with supplies that we need in the restaurant,
03:22 but weather lang, pag umulan, umihin, agad yung restaurant.
03:26 So we're always faced with challenges,
03:28 because that's something, I guess, I'm built for.
03:32 Since I was very young, I'm used to these challenges.
03:36 You have the foundation, because you also took up culinary arts
03:40 and a Master in Entrepreneurship,
03:42 which has made you a holistic entrepreneur and a restaurateur.
03:46 Yeah. Whenever I would have a chance on taking something
03:50 that would improve myself on, either personal or professional,
03:55 either that's for work or just a simple workout in the gym,
04:00 I would always try to better myself every day.
04:04 Absolutely. We keep on learning.
04:06 It's like we continue to go to school, the school of hard knocks.
04:09 Learning always something new from the people around us.
04:12 But you have three restaurants, Cochibistro, Conduit Philippines,
04:16 and The Secret Kitchen.
04:18 I mean, just take a look at your menu.
04:20 You have an eclectic mix of products.
04:24 How do you come up with all of these food products?
04:27 I'm very creative in terms of that's actually my strength
04:31 in our group, creating and developing concepts.
04:36 Operations, I leave it to my partners or my team.
04:41 But all those brands, Conduit, Secret Kitchen, Cochi,
04:44 these are the brands actually that I started.
04:46 Conduit right before pandemic, and Cochi and Secret Kitchen
04:49 during pandemic, but I have others before that,
04:52 Sumo Sam, Wolfgang's Steakhouse.
04:56 And these are the brands that I work with my partners.
04:59 Just this pandemic that I thought actually I wouldn't do food business anymore,
05:03 but got locked in in the house and out of fear,
05:08 I developed food and now they're businesses.
05:11 And in between, Marvin, are you still there hungry to do a teleserie,
05:17 a film, or maybe even do hosting jobs?
05:21 I miss it. I miss acting.
05:23 I was telling you before during break that before pandemic,
05:27 I would do one project a year.
05:29 There's the script that I read this year.
05:32 They actually wanted us to do it this year, but I said,
05:34 "I'm really busy with all the new brands that I started.
05:38 Maybe next year I'll start a teleserie."
05:40 Not a teleserie, but a movie.
05:42 Teleserie is very long.
05:43 Yeah, very long.
05:44 Just a movie maybe next year.
05:46 And of course, you still have to make that adjustments.
05:48 Coming off the pandemic, there's still this revenge spending.
05:54 There's just so much pent-up demand.
05:56 That we are enjoying in the retail and in the food business.
06:02 But at the same time, people are always actually still before
06:05 and during pandemic and after pandemic, always looking for value for money.
06:08 So it's something that we actually try to create and give that experience to them.
06:12 Because when you're a celebrity, an entertainer, everyone thinks,
06:15 "Oh, you're earning so much money.
06:17 This is enough to run and manage my life forever."
06:23 But of course, that is not true.
06:25 I mean, there are certain points in our life when there are ups and downs, right?
06:30 In the entertainment business cycle.
06:32 How important is it for entertainers, actors, actresses to invest
06:36 and set up a business for their future?
06:39 Actually, I wouldn't suggest that as a fallback or something that they can do outside acting.
06:46 I think if their calling and their passion is in the acting industry,
06:51 or in the entertainment industry, pursue it 100% and go with it wholeheartedly.
06:56 Because that's how a person becomes successful.
06:59 If it's really going towards with the passion and the dreams of his life.
07:03 For me, yes, acting.
07:05 I got introduced to this because of my job as a waiter before.
07:10 But deep inside me, I really want the food business.
07:14 So yes, of course, financially it's rewarding.
07:19 But a lot of challenges.
07:21 But at the same time, it's my passion.
07:23 I like creating and I like giving good experiences to my customers.
07:27 And what is next for Marvin Agustin's restaurant empire?
07:32 Do you plan to have more brands or do you plan to look at other types of businesses outside of food?
07:39 With food, Secret Kitchen is right now we're expanding to our sixth store in Shangri-La.
07:44 Oh, just right across.
07:46 And we're going expansion via franchising with Secret Kitchen.
07:50 Kochi, I experimented in 90 square meter space in BGC.
07:55 I'm actually moving to 200 square meter in BGC.
07:57 Whoa, almost more than double.
07:59 And luckily, I was on vacation just about two months ago in London.
08:04 There's this favorite Indian restaurant that I go to for five years already.
08:07 I met the chef and the chef's coming here and turning that small space into an Indian restaurant from London.
08:14 So these are the new brands that I'm creating here in the country.
08:19 Well, we're really very proud of you and what you have achieved over the decades.
08:22 Thank you.
08:23 Marvin Agustin, celebrity, restaurateur, and chef.
08:27 Thank you, thank you.
08:28 Thank you so much.

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