Captain Shakey’s
Former service crewmember rises to become top dough of the nation’s No.1 pizza restaurant chain
I liked the job. I liked the business. Every day, it’s new faces, new experiences. I thought I could excel in it. I never found another job. I never had the chance to get out.”
WHEN Vicente Gregorio worked as a service crewmember of the Shakey’s pizza parlor in Greenhills, San Juan City branch, in the 1980s, never in his wild imagination did he see himself becoming the president and chief executive officer of the country’s leading pizza chain.
“What happened was when I was studying for my [Engineering] board exam, I was told, ‘Hey, masarap sa Shakey’s.’ They were hiring at that time. They paid well, and they gave tips,” Gregorio told The Manila Times.
“As a working student, I provided for my own needs in school. That’s why I grabbed the opportunity to join Shakey’s.”
Gregorio initially worked for Tropical Hut (Hamburger) at the corner of Ortigas and EDSA. “There’s now a big, gaping hole, but there used to be Tropical Hut there, with a supermarket that ran for 24 hours,” Gregorio recalled.
“I worked there before. Minimum wage, QSR (quick service restaurant) like Jollibee and McDonald’s. At Shakey’s, I joined, and I grew very fast in my job. After three years, I became the head of operations before moving to Chowking. I joined other restaurant chains, but I was finally called back by Shakey’s in 2003.”
Since then, Gregorio never left the company, where he proudly worked for 21 years.
The pandemic was really a tough time for most restaurants, including Shakey’s restaurants, that are owned and operated by Shakey’s Pizza Asia Ventures Inc.
“In general, we were still lucky and blessed that we navigated the pandemic better than most,” Gregorio said.
“I can say that because by the end of the first year, we still had the same number of stores.
“We only closed four stores during the whole pandemic, and those stores were already scheduled for relocation. I think we are the only brand that can say, at the end of 2020, we had the same store count as 2019.
Healthy cash flow
“How are we able to do that? Our operating performance was healthy. We had some of the healthiest cash flow and operating stores in the industry. A lot of restaurant chains drastically cut their number of stores.”
The biggest challenge that Shakey’s encountered in this pandemic is its people. With the restaurants closed, Gregorio was very concerned about their employees.
“When we had to close most of the stores drastically, that worried us,” Gregorio admitted. “We did provide assistance, we provided pay, support like emergency loans, and we tried our very best to protect the jobs.
“When we finally had to downscale, it was not as big as most companies. We made a promise that when the business and economy reopens, we will call them back.”
“Some of the employees went abroad, some found other jobs already. I would say a third of them were back. For those who did not return, we made sure they were properly taken cared of or compensated, more than what is required by law.
Yet, Shakey’s remained open for all the employees who left and lost jobs.
“So we hired, rehired, and we always aimed to see our people grow with us. We always want to promote from within. That’s one of our key missions. How to let our people grow with the organization.”
Exactly, that was what happened with Gregorio’s growth with Shakey’s.
“I want to make sure the same opportunity happens with our people down the line.”
Gregorio shared that Shakey’s grew the fastest during the pandemic years. “We were opening, normally, about a dozen stores a year,” he granted. “During the pandemic, we saw the opportunity.
“There were a lot of good locations that became available because some brands closed. We saw the opportunity to expand during the pandemic just for Shakey’s alone. Our store expansion doubled what we used to have pre-pandemic. So we took advantage of the spaces, the lower rents, to open new stores.”
Shakey’s is not just situated in Manila and nearby provinces. It opened all over the country — in the north in Laoag, Ilocos Norte, and in the south in Mindanao.
“Our store unit economics are healthier, so even with the lower sales in the pandemic situation, the return of investment
was still quite good,” Gregorio offered. “Before, the return on capital of our new stores was already very fast.
“So we figured, even if the sales were low during the pandemic, we extended another year or two in the ROI (return of investment) period, and it was still very healthy. It’s best to put money in the stores than to your savings account, which is earning very little.”
Even before the pandemic, Shakey’s invested largely on its IT (information technology). Hence, it was easy to monitor the branches even without mobilizing people around.
Shakey’s always thought IT and data to be “very critical” in managing business. Hence, managing the sales of the stores did not prove to be too hard for them.
“We’re very data-driven,” asserted Gregorio.
“It helped that I am an engineer. My being an engineer became influential in the decisions. Even the Board and the owners believed in IT. So when the pandemic hit us, we were not late.
“Others panicked, they had to do IT in the pandemic. Shakey’s did it even before. How did we monitor? I can tell you in real time how Shakey’s did last night. We can make the right decisions faster. We can analyze the data better.”
Shakey’s biggest branch is its freestanding store in Magallanes, Makati City. It also has another bigger store along Quezon Avenue in Quezon City.
“The freestanding stores outside the malls are big in format,” shared Gregorio.
“Inside the malls, the rate and rent are very high, so you cannot build too big a store there.
“Actually, when we look at it, all our stores are profitable, whether you’re in the mall or outside the mall or delivery-focused. They have all very good returns and ROI periods. Because we are able to differentiate the investments from store models.
“Even with varying sales, from our experience, we already know what sales are needed for this kind of in-store investment. The ROIs have been very fast, very healthy and encouraging.”
Gregorio has been with Shakey’s since 2003.
“I used to be with another chain that I put up, but I was recalled by the Prieto family to return [to Shakey’s] and lead the company in February 2003.
“They decided to do that when they reorganized the management structure. There was a previous management team, but I was told then, the last three or four years were
not very good for the company, and they were just spiraling down.
Gregorio gets to practice his engineering course in the job that he does every day.
“In terms of quantitative analysis, engineering design, construction, I understand those aspects.
“Although we have an engineering team, it helps that I know exactly where they are coming from. I would say the one thing that has helped me in my career is my Engineering background, which works to my advantage.”
Shakey’s is giving away three luxury cars in its latest monthly raffle — for customers who will dine in, take out or for delivery. First is a BMW X1 this February, followed by BMW X3 in March and finally, a BMW X5 in April.
“We always believe that to succeed in business, we need to wow our customers,” Gregorio maintained. “We know that if we just do a good job, that will not be enough.
“So the culture we have in this organization, in this company, is we always ask, ‘How do we wow our guests?’ We come up with new products, open new stores, do new promos, we always ask, is this wowing enough?
“So we try to put ourselves in the shoes of the consumers and ask, ‘If we are going to do a raffle, what will be the impact to the guests if we give a small, compact car or a motorcycle or a cell phone?
“A car will be better. But if we are going to give a car, what type of car will wow them? We decided, let’s not give them an ordinary car. Let’s give them a really premium SUV (sports utility vehicle).”
The team did the computation if a car like a BMW can possibly be given away in a raffle. “Even our marketing team is very numbersdriven,” Gregorio said. “So we are able to see that we can afford to see that we are able to give a vehicle that will wow them.”
Aside from Shakey’s, the brands involved in the consumer raffle are Peri-Peri and R&B Milk Tea, both Shakey’s partner companies.
“We are very far from where we are now,” Gregorio beamed.
“Twenty one years flew by so fast for me. I never thought I would be able to stay that long.
“At Shakey’s, we always try to exceed expectations, because it benefits everybody, not just the owners. Even the stakeholders and employees. That gives me the best joy. I became addicted to that. I know how it can impact the people below.”
Shakey’s, which started in the Philippines in 1975, is known for its iconic chicken and mojos, as well as its famous, thin-crust pizza. It is a Filipino company that has multinational operations.
It has partnered with other brands that have made an “immense” impact to the company. To date, there are also Potato Corner and Project Pie.
“In the scale alone, we are able to create a lot of synergies and negotiate better deals by bundling them together,” Gregorio offered.
“We get to share data. We can learn from our experience from one brand and apply it to the other.
“We have benefitted from the portfolio and that was really the design and intention on how we create synergies where 1+1=3. From the very start, that was the goal which we have been applying every time to all the synergies we can get.”
All of Gregorio’s working life, with more than four decades in the industry, he was already in the restaurant business. Even before he graduated, he already joined Tropical Hut.
“I found out I liked the job. I liked the business. Every day, it’s new faces, new experiences. I thought I could excel in it. I never found another job. I never had the chance to get out.”
Gregorio was raised in Bacolod, then his family went to Manila and he spent high school at Don Bosco Mandaluyong.
“I think that explains the technical background that I have. I took one year in Electrical Engineering at Don Bosco Technical College. It wasn’t flexible enough. It was a small college, and I didn’t have free time to work.
“So, I decided to shift to Central Colleges of the Philippines, which was near my house in Quezon City. It was a bigger school. I was able to work half the day and fix my schedule. That was where I finished my bachelor degree.”
Gregorio was never sidetracked in his chosen profession. It was just that his career in the restaurant business grew fast and flourished.
Even in his heavy workload at Shakey’s, Gregorio tries to take a break and brings his family out of the country. Last Christmas, they spent the holidays in Japan. Even locally, they managed to go to Boracay and Siargao.
If Gregorio is at work, his mind is devoted a hundred percent to his job.
“On weekends, I try to be a hundred percent with the family, although sometimes, the work will even creep in to me on weekends. But in general, I try to avoid it.
“The balance are those things we do together as a family. We play golf or go out of town. The pandemic helped us create the habit where all of us are back home for dinner together. Before the pandemic, we’re lucky if we had two or three nights of dinner at home.
“On weekends, we have a small place in Aguinaldo, Cavite, near Tagaytay, where we try to wind down. I’m like a weekend farmer. We have a small farm there. My son raises game fowls. He has quite a few in our farm. I also enjoy playing golf with my kids.”