DARING DELIVERIES
As the difficulties imposed by the pandemic impact businesses big or small, HAPPY ONGPAUCO-TIU continues to serve what she does best—gastronomy served from the heart
It comes as no surprise that the food sector would be one of the hardest-hit industries by the new age lifestyle imposed by the novel coronavirus. Dinein activities have come to a full halt, with many businesses laying off people and an alarming increase in food wastage especially in the first few months of the quarantine. Happy Ongpauco-Tiu, who for decades has grown her culinary empire and expanded it to several avenues, has her thoughts deep on her family and wishing how the setting could have been more ideal. Her family and their health, after all, will always remain the top priority for her. “Honestly, I wish we could have gone to our place at the beach and stayed there for the entire lockdown. Not only is it safer as [there are] less COVID [cases] in the provinces, but the kids would have enjoyed being out in the sun and not cooped up at home,” she muses.
Happy explains, though, that she has accepted the situation since and has focused on moving forward. The turning point was having to experience shutting down all her restaurants, all of which have been favored gastronomic locations by many of society’s elite. But putting her years of hard work and extensive training into practice, she was somehow prepared to pivot and was able to effectively do so the best she possibly can. The first few challenges proved to be a huge undertaking. Many private dining events had to be canceled, and so she devised a contactless solution. Her team initially had their doubts, but her leadership skills shined through, and she found ways to provide for them. “Of course, they all feared—but as a leader, I had to make them feel that everything is okay by being there for all of them. At the same time, I had to find other business avenues to help me sustain my people. At this moment in time, profit for my business is no longer important. What matters is to be able to give jobs to my staff so they can provide for their families.”
Once she was able to recalibrate her business model, she focused on bolstering the gastronomic needs of her loyal customer base who at this point have been hungry for the fantastic food experiences they usually had at Happy’s dining locations. “We had to strengthen our restaurant delivery and my manufacturing company where we make frozen healthy ready-to-cook food kits,” she shares. “These are both very in demand, so we had to create more dishes and give special offers to be competitive in our industry. As for my private dining services, the contactless private dining concept was well accepted too. Here, I would deliver all the things needed for the tablescapes and buffet and give our clients a DIY tutorial video to follow. And lastly, I got into online retail. I’ve been in the food industry for decades. So thru our the years, I’ve gathered suppliers for all that I need, thus turning a business out of this—where I launched an online home retail store.”
And while all she wants at the moment is a return to normalcy, Happy reiterates that there is much to be missed from the privileges she had what feels like ages ago. “I miss traveling, hanging out with friends, working at my restaurant, and doing private dining events,” she laments. But in more ways than one, it has given her time to reflect and focus on what truly matters. For her, it has solidified her relationship with God and gave her a better perspective towards life. She says a deeper understanding of health procedures has given her insight to continue these practices both at home and in her food business ventures. “This whole pandemic made me realize how unimportant material things are,” she says, recalling how their well-being has been given the much-needed spotlight.
Happy looks forward to a future with hope for her family, her team, her businesses, and her personal journey. She concludes, “Throughout the challenges if you trust God and put Him first in all that you do, all will be okay for sure.”
“Atthis moment intime, profitfor mybusiness isnolonger important. Whatmatters istobeable togivejobs tomystaff sotheycan provide fortheir families.”