Features
Not Just for Aristocrats
Engracia Reyes's passion for cooking made her start the Aristocrat Restaurant. Her desire to leave a legacy was what pushed her to involve her children and grandchildren in the business. Now her legacy lives on.
By Elaine Ruzul S. Ramos
Filipinos have a thing for legacies. Whatever form it takes, each of us strives to leave something behind for future generations to benefit from and enjoy. For the late Doņa Engracia and her husband, former Supreme Court Justice Alex Reyes, this legacy is the Aristocrat Restaurant.
Contrary to what the word stands for, Aristocrat actually had humble beginnings. Doņa Engracia, or Lola Asiang, started what is now a multimillion-peso enterprise from scratch, armed only with her maternal drive to earn more for the family and her knack for cooking Filipino dishes.
Her grandson, Raymund A. Reyes, president and chief operating officer of the family corporation, relates that before Aristocrat Restaurant came to be, Lola Asiang first put up an eatery named Lapu-Lapu that sold sandwiches, burgers, and other snack fare to students of St. Theresa's College, which was near their family residence in Malabon. "Lola wanted to have a business na andyan lang sa bahay. Yung lulutuing food pangtinda kasama na din yung kakainin sa bahay."
When Lola Asiang's regular customers increased, the family converted a Studebaker into a mobile canteen and parked it at the Luneta Park in Manila to serve promenaders. They eventually found a good spot along Dewey Boulevard (now Roxas Boulevard) where the first Aristocrat Restaurant rose in 1936. But the establishment wasn't the 5,000-square meter restaurant that it is now, but merely a tiny canteen which Lola Asiang wanted to name Andy's, after her eldest son. Andy, however, was against naming the restaurant after him, worried that his classmates at the Ateneo de Manila University would just make fun of their modest business. Lola Asiang, never once missing a chance to teach her children a lesson, resolved to name the restaurant, "Aristocrat," "where your aristocrat friends can have delicious home-cooked meals," she jokingly told Andy.
The first Aristocrat branch - which is turning 70 this month - not only offered the bestsellers in the Lapu-Lapu canteen such as fish burger and adobo and chicken sandwiches, but it also served other all-time Filipino favorites like palabok, lumpiang apulid, sotanghon, arroz caldo, dinuguan and puto.
Lola Asiang did most of the cooking when the restaurant was still small. It was in the Malabon wet market where she learned the value of keeping promises and the business acumen that would help her start and grow the Aristocrat Restaurant. It was actually amazing how Lola Asiang got an eatery started when Reyes says she had no idea what start-up capital or payback period meant. "My lolo and lola were opposites. Lolo, who comes from a family of fishermen, rose from the ranks and became justice of the Supreme Court. Lola, on the other hand, was a plain housewife and did not finish grade school," Reyes says.
"Ang ginagawa kasi ng lola sa sweldo ng lolo pinangbabayad sa mga gastusin sa bahay, so you can say that what she used as capital for the canteen was what's left over from lolo's salary. Wala pa noon accounting method kaya kung ano ang matira sa bulsa ng lola 'yun ang kita."
Lola Asiang saw to it that everyone in the family helped. Her children were made to work in the restaurant during summer, a practice that was carried over to the succeeding generations of Reyeses. "Kapag summer vacation pinapagtrabaho kami sa restaurant at hindi kami pwedeng mamili ng work. At palaging sinasabi sa mga apo, 'You have to work very well.' Lola instilled in us very strong work ethics and values."
World War 2 was a challenging time for Aristocrat and the Reyes children had to work hard to keep the restaurant afloat. After the war, Lola Asiang, enlisting the help of her grandfather who was then the solicitor general, secured a P10,000-character loan that she used to rebuild the restaurant. She was able to pay the loan in less than a year.
Nevertheless, Lola Asiang delegated the restaurant's management to her son, Jose Reyes, as early as 1941. Afterwards, another son, Victor and his wife Consuelo, took over management of the business. Lola Asiang died in 1975, three years after her husband's passing.
Contrary to what the word stands for, Aristocrat actually had humble beginnings. Doņa Engracia, or Lola Asiang, started what is now a multimillion-peso enterprise from scratch, armed only with her maternal drive to earn more for the family and her knack for cooking Filipino dishes.
Her grandson, Raymund A. Reyes, president and chief operating officer of the family corporation, relates that before Aristocrat Restaurant came to be, Lola Asiang first put up an eatery named Lapu-Lapu that sold sandwiches, burgers, and other snack fare to students of St. Theresa's College, which was near their family residence in Malabon. "Lola wanted to have a business na andyan lang sa bahay. Yung lulutuing food pangtinda kasama na din yung kakainin sa bahay."
When Lola Asiang's regular customers increased, the family converted a Studebaker into a mobile canteen and parked it at the Luneta Park in Manila to serve promenaders. They eventually found a good spot along Dewey Boulevard (now Roxas Boulevard) where the first Aristocrat Restaurant rose in 1936. But the establishment wasn't the 5,000-square meter restaurant that it is now, but merely a tiny canteen which Lola Asiang wanted to name Andy's, after her eldest son. Andy, however, was against naming the restaurant after him, worried that his classmates at the Ateneo de Manila University would just make fun of their modest business. Lola Asiang, never once missing a chance to teach her children a lesson, resolved to name the restaurant, "Aristocrat," "where your aristocrat friends can have delicious home-cooked meals," she jokingly told Andy.
The first Aristocrat branch - which is turning 70 this month - not only offered the bestsellers in the Lapu-Lapu canteen such as fish burger and adobo and chicken sandwiches, but it also served other all-time Filipino favorites like palabok, lumpiang apulid, sotanghon, arroz caldo, dinuguan and puto.
Lola Asiang did most of the cooking when the restaurant was still small. It was in the Malabon wet market where she learned the value of keeping promises and the business acumen that would help her start and grow the Aristocrat Restaurant. It was actually amazing how Lola Asiang got an eatery started when Reyes says she had no idea what start-up capital or payback period meant. "My lolo and lola were opposites. Lolo, who comes from a family of fishermen, rose from the ranks and became justice of the Supreme Court. Lola, on the other hand, was a plain housewife and did not finish grade school," Reyes says.
"Ang ginagawa kasi ng lola sa sweldo ng lolo pinangbabayad sa mga gastusin sa bahay, so you can say that what she used as capital for the canteen was what's left over from lolo's salary. Wala pa noon accounting method kaya kung ano ang matira sa bulsa ng lola 'yun ang kita."
Lola Asiang saw to it that everyone in the family helped. Her children were made to work in the restaurant during summer, a practice that was carried over to the succeeding generations of Reyeses. "Kapag summer vacation pinapagtrabaho kami sa restaurant at hindi kami pwedeng mamili ng work. At palaging sinasabi sa mga apo, 'You have to work very well.' Lola instilled in us very strong work ethics and values."
World War 2 was a challenging time for Aristocrat and the Reyes children had to work hard to keep the restaurant afloat. After the war, Lola Asiang, enlisting the help of her grandfather who was then the solicitor general, secured a P10,000-character loan that she used to rebuild the restaurant. She was able to pay the loan in less than a year.
Nevertheless, Lola Asiang delegated the restaurant's management to her son, Jose Reyes, as early as 1941. Afterwards, another son, Victor and his wife Consuelo, took over management of the business. Lola Asiang died in 1975, three years after her husband's passing.
