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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