Oyette Santiago is a serial entrepreneur behind innovative food outlets that have dominated shopping malls over the past decade.
She used to work as an executive assistant at the Imarflex Group of Companies, but decided to venture into food business in 2010, with the first stall of Supreme Hotdogs. Encouraged by the success of the venture, she also opened outlets of Panthree Chicken Bite and Tempura King.
Santiago established SmartBuy Marketing Corp. and hired dozens of employees to manage the expansion of her food brands with the help of franchising. The business was thriving until the COVID-19 pandemic derailed the economy and forced the government to close down most stores inside shopping malls.
“In March 2020 when the World Health Organization declared COVID-19 as a pandemic, the world suddenly stopped. Several of our outlets and franchisees necessitated us to close our doors and we took shelter indoors,” says Santiago.
“Our office is located in Ortigas Center, Pasig City. Our employees were reduced to eight as of this writing, as a result of the pandemic,” she says.
Santiago is not someone who gives up easily. “While waiting for the world to heal, our small team and friends came together to reinvent ideas and things—hence the birth of Mom’s Ube & Triple Chocolate Champorado and Sushi Bake Kitchen,” she says.
The reinvented champorado quickly caught the fancy of customers. “When we launched our product at SM Megamall, we were so shocked and overwhelmed by the numerous orders and repeat orders we have been receiving,” she says.
Mom’s Ube & Triple Chocolate Champorado took the favorite merienda a notch higher, with its different take on ‘cheesy ube’ and ‘triple chocolate’ flavors.
“It took us a while to introduce online orders in social media for fear that we might not be able to effectively attend to the influx of orders. We didn’t expect this turnout amid this pandemic,” says Santiago.
Following the repeated closures of shopping malls under the enhanced community quarantine, they decided to finally promote the product on social media.
“We welcome this upcoming part of our journey with open arms in order to bring even bigger and better experiences to all,” says Santiago.
“To cope with the pandemic, we need to resort to retaining only few of our outlets for the time being, to sustain our existence and to utilize social media platforms to generate sales and product awareness,” she says,
“For 2020 and beyond, we need to make a complete shift from the traditional selling to e-selling method. We also need to keep creating new contemporary food concepts that go well while living in this pandemic,” says Santiago.
She says her company differs from other establishments, “because our small team puts so much love, energy and sacrifice especially during these trying times to come up with exciting food concepts that magically transform ordinary to extraordinary.”
Santiago says the key is to “put in quality ingredients with a very minimal mark-up that makes our product affordable to everyone”.
Santiago says the health crisis gave her time to reflect on her faith in God and discover her passion for product photography. “Most importantly, this pandemic has afforded me to know our Creator deeper by intensely studying his word religiously,” she says.
“During this challenging period, it is a must that we foster strong internal motivation. Employing positive outlook can lead us to re-create, re-invent and re-imagine everything productively,” she says.
