Casa Verde from canteen beginnings to successful resto chain

CEBU, Philippines – What started as a small canteen that grew into one of the most successful local chain of family-owned restaurants in Cebu City is Casa Verde.

Casa Verde was first established in 2002 in an ancestral house built in the 1900s near Ramos St. in Cebu City as a small canteen for those occupying dormitories and colleges nearby.

After more than a decade under the management of its general manager, Brian Noel, the canteen grew and now has four branches in Cebu and two in Manila.

Brian, 34, was recently awarded by the Cebu Chamber of Commerce and Industry (CCCI) as "Small Business Entrepreneur of the Year".

How Casa Verde Started

Greatly influenced by Brian's Spanish roots, Casa Verde is a Spanish translation of "green house" which refers to one of his family's ancestral homes in Ramos that became the business' first branch.

The Noel family could have destroyed the ancestral house back then since it was unused for a long time and built a new one.

But the family decided to just restore the house and turn it into a small canteen.

The family also thought of establishing a dormitory for students of Velez College which is just near the place.

Several months since the canteen started operating, students from the school and office workers near the area started to flock and became their main market.

In a recent interview, the 34-year-old Brian shared that the family started the business with easier-to-cook foods such as chicken and ngohiong as no one from the family had an experience in managing a restaurant.

In fact, the family simply took the challenge of going into business and learned things along the way.

Today, his cousin Nicole Galang is the one responsible of the restaurant's menu as she was also among those who pioneered the family enterprise years back being someone who loves to cook although she's not a chef.

Today, Casa Verde offers a wide-range of food choices including its best-selling ribs, mouth-watering steaks, sumptuous pasta and sinful desserts.

Branches

The proud Cebuano restaurant brand just started as a 20-seater canteen.

But today, it had managed to build three more branches in the city located in the Cebu IT Park, Ayala Terraces and SM Seaside City Cebu.

When the Ramos branch first opened in 2002, Brian at that time was still in college studying Management Accounting at the University of San Carlos.

But it was in 2008 when he decided to join the family business.

It was also at that time when the Casa expanded to IT Park, becoming his first project.

The Noel family also established other brands called The Suite Room now located in Ayala Center Cebu and Room for Dessert in SM Seaside.

Casa Verde had also brought the Cebuano brand to the Manila market with its branches in SM Megamall in Ortigas and UP Town Center in Katipunan, bringing its total seat count to over 700, including the Cebu branches.

It also introduced its The Porch by Casa Verde brand to Quezon City.

Unanticipated Success

The success of the business was not totally anticipated, according to Brian.

But his determination brought the brand to what it is today.

“We just took the challenge one at a time. We learned things along the way, and we learned from our mistakes,” the 34-year-old entrepreneur said.

At the core of the business' operations is Brian's philosophy of "value for money".

Brian said: "We give customers value for money. In Cebuano, sulit. We have big portions, and the price is affordable because not all good things have to be expensive."