Cuban – inspired restaurant-bar Café Havana celebrated its first year anniversary in Cebu with goals of gaining a bigger market in the years to come.
“Our plan for the chain right now is really not to expand our current branch in Cebu. The direction we are taking is moving towards tapping a wider segment, which is the C market,” LJC Restaurant Group executive vice president and general manager Lorna Cruz-Ambas said.
LGC Restaurant Group owns Café Havana and Café Adriatico.
New branch
Ambas said LJC Restaurant Group will open next month a new branch in Manila that will be more “mass-based,” a shift from its usual high-end target.
She described the latest addition to the chain as a “quick service type” of dining with affordable prices.
However, it’s not going to be like fastfood stores, she said in press interview last Wednesday.
“Cebu is a different market. We’re still trying to get a feel here. Once we get the right formula, we will bring our brand for the C market here,” she said.
Ronaldo Dayto, LJC Restaurant Group’s operations manager for food and beverage, said Café Havana is tapping a younger market.
“We will bring Havana outside and will soon introduce catering services. We are adjusting to the Cebu market, which is very competitive,” he said.
He noted that the group is affected by firms pirating its skilled employees.
“We’ve lost a lot of our skilled and trained workers already,” he said.
Ambas noted that pirating of employees is not just a problem of LJC but of the whole industry as well. (ALC/SunStar Cebu)
