MANILA, Philippines — This is truly the moment for The Moment Group, as the food and beverage company behind Manam, 8Cuts Burgers and Ooma has found the recipe for success and is now cooking up plans for strategic expansion both here and abroad.
The Moment Group, which opened its first store in Bonifacio High Street in 2012, has built a formidable portfolio of 10 brands, with a total of 107 stores to date.
“I think it’s never a question of how big,” Abba Napa, The Moment Group founder for creative development, told The STAR.
”I remember when Eli (Eliza Antonino), Jon (Syjuco) and I started, Eli made us make a promise that we would only create one restaurant together. And of course, we broke that promise. But it has never been in our plan to aspire for a hundred locations and go nationwide,” she said.
The Moment Group’s portfolio includes Manam, which has the most number of branches at present with 37, followed by Pancit Pancitan with 30 outlets, Mo’ Cookies with 12 branches, 8Cuts Burgers and Din Tai Fung with nine stores each and Ooma with seven shops.
“What it was always about was creating a restaurant that we felt would resonate with the Filipino diner for the current times and hopefully for all time. If they embraced it, then we could happily open our doors in more neighborhoods that we felt would appreciate us,” Napa said.
“That’s our north star and it has not changed and will likely stay the same in this next decade to come,” she said.
According to Napa, the group has been very fortunate with its Filipino brand Manam, which she said always gets an inquiry or request to open in countries abroad.
As much as they want to, however, Napa said the group wants to be prepared and capable of developing and supporting a franchise partner in another market when they do decide to expand.
“So it’s not just be about being able to say we’re in all of these countries,” she said.
The Moment Group started Manam in 2013. After 12 years, Manam at the Triangle (Makati) was included in the Bib Gourmand list of prestigious travelogue Michelin Guide, a distinction recognizing establishments offering exceptional food at moderate prices.
Last year, the group also made its first international venture in Singapore through hayop, an off-shoot of Manam.
Napa said that they are open to exploring similar opportunities in other markets, but is “not rushing into anything.”
“Do we think that Filipino cuisine has a lot of opportunity in other countries? Yes, there are so many Filipinos living all over the world. In Singapore today, more than 50 percent of the people eating in hayop are not Filipino. That was our goal, for Filipinos to bring their friends to try, but also for non-Filipinos who actively want to be introduced to Filipino cuisine, to feel like hayop could be that restaurant for them to do so,” Napa said.
“Knowing this has definitely widened our perspective on where and what countries our Filipino restaurant brands can hope to open their doors in and we look forward to those possibilities in the times to come,” she said.
Napa said The Moment Group is always looking for categories that the Filipino diner does not get enough of yet.
Aside from being a restaurant operator, the group also considers itself as a creator and developer, with 99 percent of its portfolio consisting of homegrown brands.
“Beyond restaurant operators, we are brand-builders and innovators as well. I think that’s our unique proposition. We love the legacy brands that we have in the Philippines, and I think it’s quite unique that we’ve created something like Manam that has the trajectory to hopefully be a legacy brand in the next decades to come if we continue to steward it as well as we can,” Antonino, The Moment Group founder and managing partner, said.
Besides developing homegrown brands like Manam, Ooma, 8Cuts, Mo’ Cookies, Moment Catering and hayop, The Moment Group also brought to the Philippines the popular Taiwanese restaurant brand Din Tai Fung in 2015.
Din Tai Fung Philippines is celebrating its 10th anniversary in the country with north-to-south expansions in key cities.
Last July, Din Tai Fung opened a branch in Cebu City, its first in the Visayas and ninth in total.
The Moment Group’s Cebu expansion will soon be followed by Din Tai Fung’s 10th shop in Northern Luzon. The brand’s newest location is set to open by the end of the year at SM City Clark in Pampanga.
“The way diners embraced our restaurants and Din Tai Fung has been really heartwarming. Even after 10 years, the brand is still loved as much as it was on day one. As for where we’re headed, we hope our diners keep staying excited as we bring the brand to more Philippine cities,” Antonino said.
As far as bringing in and adding more global brands to its portfolio, Antonino said the group does not want to do anything in a space that is already very well served or is fully served.
“When we first started, we knew that what we wanted to do was create restaurants for the unserved, underserved and badly served categories. And perhaps that is why we haven’t brought in anything new just yet,” she said.
With The Moment Group’s growth and its brands’ popularity, the group has likewise expressed its openness in potentially going public in the future.
“There are many reasons to go public, and in the future who knows, that may one day be the right strategy for us,” Napa said.
“But at least for today, based on where the company is in its life cycle and trajectory, we believe that staying private is the right way to go. I think for now, that’s the best thing we can do for our brands,” she said.