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Direk Lester Pimentel Ong: LIVING A DOUBLE LIFE PEPExclusives Trending
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00:00Excuse ah
00:03You can pedal here
00:05For stress relief
00:38He'llとがって
00:39Thank you
00:47He'll do that
00:47He'll do that
00:48Thank you
00:48Thank you
00:49Thank you
01:13Oh, yeah, yeah. I grew up as an athlete, particularly as a martial artist. I am raised in a very,
01:23very disciplined household because my father is also a martial arts teacher.
01:27And then he trained us, all siblings, in martial arts. And I became a very competitive athlete. I was a
01:37national athlete for Wushu. I represented the country.
01:42So the discipline in martial arts, in training as an athlete, I carry it through everything and every endeavor that
01:51I do.
01:52Being an entrepreneur, being a filmmaker, yung discipline na yun, dinadala ko siya.
01:59Even sa filmmaking, yung cost efficiency, time management, discipline, I instill it to myself and to all of my team
02:07members.
02:08So a lot of my producers and other audiences are surprised even though with very, very little budget, we can
02:16make our shows look expensive.
02:20Like Incognito's, to be exact, Incognito's budget is exact same budget as any other ABS-CBN teleserye.
02:29It doesn't have any budget bigger than, wala siyang budget na mas malaki sa kahit na anong ginawa ng ABS.
02:36Because of discipline, because of cost efficiency, because of my expertise as an entrepreneur, I was able to help the
02:45production, save a lot of money and make it look more expensive than it is.
02:56Number one, of course, the taste of the filmmaker, of the creators.
03:01Me, my producers, my writers, and all of the team, we choose carefully so we have the same taste.
03:07That's number one.
03:08Number two, you cannot afford that taste naman if you're not disciplined in your spending.
03:13So that's where my expertise as an entrepreneur comes in.
03:18Cost efficiency, cost management.
03:21We call it cost engineering in production.
03:24In every film project or series that I do, before we embark on anything, we would go into a production
03:33meeting.
03:34And I would ask help from everyone and take the lead in the task called cost engineering.
03:41Meaning we engineer the cost from costumes, from talent fees, to locations, to how the scenes are being written.
03:52It's all according to the budget.
03:55Dapat swak siya lahat.
03:56And if you think about it, it's not small at all.
04:01Mayroong pera.
04:03Mayroong resources.
04:04Pero pag wildas ka, hindi ka maingat.
04:08Lagi mong isipin kulang.
04:10Pero sa Philippine way of shooting things, mayroon naman, kasya naman.
04:15Pero you have a very, very thin margin of error.
04:20Like even pag break time ng buong team, it should be planned.
04:25And paano tayo magbe-break?
04:28Everyone has one hour break.
04:30Pero hindi tayo sabay-sabay magbe-break.
04:32Kumbaga.
04:33This is a very good example that I instill to everyone.
04:37Lahat ng makeup artist, lahat ng wardrobe.
04:39Pag nagro-roll, ang nagtitake, naka-tenga sila eh.
04:46So mag-break na kayo.
04:48Diba?
04:49Lahat ng art depth dun sa next scene, pag na-setup na dyan, mag-break na kayo.
04:53Kami, mag-shoot pa kami.
04:54Pag tapos namin mag-shoot, kakain na kami.
04:57O mag-trabaho na kayo.
04:59So my set is always grinding every time.
05:04And I'm proud to say that we are able to abide by the Eddie Garcia law of certain number of
05:11hours and breaks.
05:13Wala kami over time.
05:15We are very disciplined in doing that.
05:18I'm very thankful to the people that I work with.
05:20Kasi sometimes kahit na hindi pa sila tapos yung one hour nila, 45 minutes pa lang, they started moving na.
05:27For the love na tawag natin dun.
05:29For the love of the show.
05:42Number one, of course, the quality of the script should be good.
05:47But other than being good, it should be realistic to your budget.
05:51Kasi maraming script na napakaganda nga naman.
05:54Pero hindi match sa available budget.
05:59So, you would end up compromising on the shoot day, on the set.
06:04Dun ka talaga malalaglag, maka-compromise.
06:09So, the script should be written according to the budget.
06:13And then second, the most important part is execution on a day-to-day basis.
06:20Pre-production, to production, to post-production, everything should be very, very efficient.
06:25To maximize the budget.
06:27Not just meet the budget.
06:29To make your money go longer than it should be.
06:36It's how you would run your set efficiently.
06:48Our first founding brand is RBX Rice in a Box.
06:53We celebrated its 25th year a few months ago.
06:59Our goal for RBX Rice in a Box is just to put food on the table.
07:03I was very poor and very young and starting a family that time.
07:07So, I needed something to supplement my income.
07:12So, I started to open a very small store with an 80,000 peso capital.
07:19Galing sa savings namin ng wife ko, si Rosette.
07:23And then, we opened it in a very small kiosk using surplus equipment from home like stove, cooking equipment, refrigerators.
07:34Yung mga sobra sa bahay, ginawa namin siyang stove.
07:37We started it at RBX.
07:38And the goal is to serve a very, very affordable filling meal that is a necessity for Filipino, which is
07:50rice.
07:51So, yun yun.
07:51And then, after the success of that, we were able to open more than 100 stores.
07:56We were able to open restaurant brands na like Wang Fu.
08:02It's a Chinese-Singaporean restaurant.
08:04It's a casual dining family restaurant where people eat on a daily basis and celebrate birthdays, celebrate anniversaries, or whatever.
08:12And then, we also have a ramen restaurant called QQRamen99.
08:18I want it to be known as the Jollibee of ramen because it's very affordable.
08:24It's priced as Jollibee or McDonald's, pero ramen, gyoza, gyudon.
08:31Very affordable.
08:32And now, we have 190 branches.
08:34So, we also operate Dean and De Luca.
08:36So, our positioning is all market segments of the Philippines from the very, very affordable one to quick-service fast
08:50-food restaurants to casual dining to a little bit more expensive lifestyle dining.
08:58Basically, we wanted to cater to everyone.
09:01But one thing we make sure, all the brands that we do, we wanted it to be reasonable.
09:08So, our mission, vision is to provide world-class quality food and service affordable to every Filipino.
09:24This is located near ABS-CBN and we choose this area because this is the, let's say, I call it
09:33the downtown of Quezon City or the downtown, the CBD.
09:37This is where, the center of Quezon City in terms of business, in terms of food, in terms of showbiz.
09:46This is the Hollywood of the Philippines.
09:48So, I work in both industry.
09:51Number one, I work in the food industry.
09:54Most of our restaurants are here.
09:56Most of the offices of our partners and suppliers are here in this area of Quezon City.
10:01And then, in terms of my work as a film director naman, all of the major networks and studios are
10:07here.
10:08All of the offices of other productions are here.
10:12This is the Hollywood of Metro Manila or the Philippines, as we can say.
10:17So, this is very convenient.
10:18So, here we are.
10:21My favorite part of the office is this one.
10:23We call it the bullpen.
10:25This is where everyone works.
10:26I personally designed this.
10:28Actually, I took inspiration from the movie The Intern, the movie of Robert De Niro and Han Hathaway.
10:36I love the movie.
10:37I love the narrative.
10:39And I like the production design of the New York-style repurposed set.
10:45So, I made it.
10:47So, as you can see, industrial lights, open, set up, just black and white.
10:53I love this one because I can see and interact with everyone, just like that.
11:01Kita mo silang lahat.
11:02Everyone is working.
11:03I hate the office setup na kasi naka-cubical yung traditional one because everyone is so segregated.
11:08This one, we are cohesive.
11:11We can talk to each other.
11:12We can see each other.
11:13So, my favorite item here is, I'll show you.
11:18This is Luigi.
11:20This is my son.
11:22This is my favorite item here.
11:24I built this bike and I'm an avid rider, both bicycle and motorcycle.
11:31And normally, I would drive from home to here.
11:33And if I'm here na, I would move around the area.
11:37I would just use bicycle.
11:38Actually, I designed my office wherein I can ride it.
11:52You can pedal here for a stress relief.
12:07This is a very light bicycle.
12:09I custom made it.
12:11It's titanium.
12:19So, that's it.
12:21Okay.
12:23So, sir, how do you make sure quality stays consistent across different branches?
12:29Oh, that's one thing that I trained my managers very well about the quality of the food.
12:37I would train them on how they are being made.
12:42So, even though I'm not there, they can test it.
12:45Okay.
12:46And then, I would trust their taste that it is good.
12:49But basically, there's no substitute of me going to each branch, each branches to go and test the food.
12:58So, there are certain days of the week that I would really go there and eat.
13:03And I would conduct my meeting in the restaurants while eating to make sure that the food are good.
13:10And I would talk to the chefs, what are their challenges, what are their, and all.
13:16And then, I would sometimes meet customers and just casually ask them how's the experience like.
13:23Oh, okay.
13:23Yeah.
13:24So, you're still on the ground.
13:25You still work on the ground.
13:26Yes, yes.
13:26On certain days of the week, I would go to certain restaurants and then eat there.
13:33And then, if I would see the problem, then the next day, I would call the people and try to
13:43make sure everything is rectified.
13:47What do you think is one of the most common challenges when you go there?
13:52What's the challenge you usually see the staff faces or the branch faces?
13:58Each and every customer, we are in a customer service.
14:01Other than selling food, we are a very, very customer-oriented industry.
14:06So, each and every customer has different kinds of demand.
14:09So, the challenging part of running a restaurant is, of course, your goal is to make everyone happy.
14:16And it's very difficult to make everyone happy.
14:19Of course.
14:20But we try our best.
14:22We try our best.
14:24How do you train employees to handle both volume and service quality, especially during peak hours?
14:31Oh, training is very, very important.
14:34Efficiency in their movement, discipline in their movement.
14:37The same way, you have to train them.
14:40So, we have a very good training program for each and every one we have.
14:44We call it a school.
14:46We have a school for each and every brand.
14:48We have a ramen school.
14:49We have a Wang Hu school.
14:51They would go under the school for orientation and classroom training for a very extensive period of time.
14:59And then, before they are deployed in the stores, I invested a lot of resources and money to build it.
15:10Because that's the only way we can give quality service if they are properly trained.
15:18And then, these challenges, they are trained to solve it.
15:23I don't tell them it's a problem.
15:26Oh, it's not a problem.
15:27Operational problem.
15:28It's a challenge.
15:29Because as long as there are challenges, that means we have opportunity to make money, to earn, to grow.
15:38As long as there is challenges.
15:40Advice for young entrepreneurs who also want to get into the food industry.
15:44My advice for the young entrepreneurs, for people who wanted to do startup, Philippines is a gold mine for small
15:53entrepreneurs like all of us.
15:57We have 130 million Filipinos.
16:00I don't know if the number is correct, but we have more than 100 million Filipinos.
16:05And most of these Filipinos are young.
16:07And they are a good potential customers for whatever brands or products that you are doing.
16:15And there is so much opportunity in the Philippines.
16:19Ang importante lang, if you're gonna start your business, do it yourself, learn fast, fail early, recover early, and just
16:31keep on pushing forward until you reach your goal.
16:45And I'll see you next time.
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