What Erwan Heussaff learned from opening 10 restos — and losing 7
MANILA, Philippines — Content creator Erwan Heussaff is not shy about his failures.
Putting up a restaurant, for example, is not a piece of cake. At one time, he co-owned or ran 10 restaurants. He had to let go of seven over the years.
"I lived my whole life with people telling me not to open a restaurant. And I think so many people told me not to do it. And that's why I ended up doing it," Erwan told Philstar.com in an exclusive interview.
Among his food ventures is Chingolo Deli, which he opened with his brother-in-law Nico Bolzico. It offers premium Argentinian beef and takeaway food that include takeout trays, sandwiches and empanadas. It remains operational to this day.
He shared that contrary to the popular belief that venturing into the food business is the safest and easiest path, it is not an easy business especially if the restaurant relies on foot traffic.
"So that for me was kind of like my biggest lesson in humility, business and everything. It really just teaches you so much," he shared.
The pandemic, however, happened and it has redefined the restaurant or the food and beverage sector in general. With the world brought down to its knees at a standstill, businesses had to find ways to keep on operating.
Erwan thinks that going online has helped many businesses, especially smaller kitchens.
"I think digital has kind of changed that because now you can run menus and programs without necessarily relying on either a high employee count or a really, really expensive rent in a prime location," the restaurateur said.
He understand the woes of smaller businesses as he once was a start-up and remains a part of the medium and small enterprises (MSME) sector.
This is the reason he is extending his help in any way he can through producing and starring in content that would help boost businesses in gaining online traction.
On his YouTube channel named FEATR, he created the series called Pandemic Kitchens Online. It features people who lost their jobs and turned to selling food online. Recently, he co-starred with another online sensation, Sassa Gurl, in a taste test video as part of Grab's latest campaign called Grab IndieEats.
Related: Sassa Gurl reacts to bashing as White Castle calendar girl
Netizens were all praises for the video that had the unlikely collaborators try out some of the most popular Filipino snacks and dishes. Some had called it as the "collab we never knew we needed."
Erwan shared that he was impressed with the hearty Lugaw he tasted while Sassa Gurl unsurprisingly picked Sisig, saying that the rich, "pulutan" often made from pig's face is what the TikTok star likes to treat friends over drinks.
Sisig and Lugaw are two of the over a hundred of local merchant partners featured in the Indie Eats campaign which has a dedicated tile on the main page of the GrabFood app.
"The campaign is about bringing these merchants to the forefront of the Grab app but behind the scenes, it's more than that, too. It's about upskilling the merchants where we teach them things like how to run ads, how to run social media, and things like that as it's part of the overall support that we're trying to give to elevate these kinds of merchants," said Martin Luchangco, head of Merchants and Partnerships.
Luchangco added that there is a vetting program that ensures merchant partners meet their standards before qualifying in the campaign.
Erwan and Sassa Gurl had a fun time eating and exchanging their thoughts in the 14-minute video. In reality, Erwan revealed that it was a straight shoot at around 90 minutes that took place at his newest studio in Mandaluyong. He shared that he had to let go of his smaller studio along Chino Roces Avenue in Makati where many of his cooking and food-related shows including his cook-offs with celebrity sibling, actress Solenn Heussaff were shot.
"Everyone's loving it. So let's see, I mean, who knows maybe we already shot a second episode and we haven't really told anyone. Yeah, I mean, I'd love to," Erwan teased about the possibility of more videos of him and Sassa Gurl.
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