Barbara Syyap runs a Japanese franchise store called Takoyadon that is located on the ground floor of Venice Grand Canal Mall, Taguig, Philippines. Their menus consist of authentic Japanese cuisine that is a hotspot among customers who are searching for delicious, reasonably priced Japanese food.

Can you briefly describe the business that you have?

Takoyadon is a franchise business we franchised in December 2021, and it has been in operation for 6 months already. Takoyadon stands for “takoyaki, yakisoba, and donburi”. Our products are mostly Japanese food and it falls under the fast food category. We have a branch in Venice Grand Canal Mall (Taguig, Metro Manila, Philippines), and right now, I am on the road and I just finished a meeting for another branch that we plan to open this month.

What was your motivation for becoming an entrepreneur?

I have been working for the last 30 years in a corporate job and retired. The money I received I used some to invest in a business. Because you cannot be an employee forever right? So I decided to move on with becoming an entrepreneur.

Do you have any philosophy that you follow in your business?

Based on my 6 months in business, I can say that when you take care of your customers, they will take care of you. You have to provide them with quality products and services and make sure that they come back. They themselves willingly become an ambassador of my brand.

What do you think makes your business stand out from other businesses?

I think in Venice (the mall my store is located) there are very few food & beverage stalls in the food court where we are located, and there are no other Japanese stalls there. So I think it is an edge for us. Unlike when you go to other malls, you have several stores that sell the same products. 

Apart from that, I am very prolific when it comes to joining programs with FoodPanda that I’ve become one of their favorite merchants. Usually, when you become a merchant of FoodPanda, they’ll remit you the payment one week after. But since I’ve become a favorite merchant, now I get my remittances the following day, right away.

I would also say that I am very prolific in digital advertising. I have a Facebook page that is very dynamic. I would always have digital advertisements at least twice a month. I am also well updated with new menus and promos that come almost every week.

And of course our food, I can really say that it is delicious, very Japanese and very authentic, and the prices are very reasonable.

What is your goal for the next 10 years?

My goal for the next 10 years (if I’m still alive), I hope to have more branches for Takoyadon. Or if there will be an opportunity for me to become a franchisor, since I’m only a franchisee at the moment, I think that should be a nice goal in 10 years or less.

How did you first learn about Loyverse and which features have been most useful for your business?

Loyverse was actually introduced to us by our franchisor. I actually never heard of it before but I found it very user-friendly. It was so easy to use and navigate. Especially when I export reports to excel, I can easily navigate my way through it. 

In terms of the reports the app generates for the owner, it is really good. In fact, when I compared it with the POS system that my friend (another franchisee of Takoyadon in Megamall), she was telling me that Loyverse is better than the POS system that she was using, which was a more expensive POS system.

Do you have any last words/ messages for other future entrepreneurs for entrepreneurs in general?

There are a lot of birth pains when it comes to becoming an entrepreneur. I retired from a corporate job of 30 years. When I worked in a corporation, I was in a sales and marketing position. You have a quota, you have a target, and you have to manage people. And you don’t really own your time. They say when you are a business person, you own your time and don’t have a target, but it is also not. There’s more to it than just saying, “Hey, I am my own boss”. It’s not really true. You don’t own your time because you also need to manage your staff and kitchen crew. It is very different from managing fellow professional people in a corporation. There are a lot of challenges, birth pains, as well as surprises. Especially when you are a tenant in a Mall. My husband and I were both surprised to find out that apart from the rent, we also have to pay for other utilities as a tenant.

And of course, the challenges of an entrepreneur, especially when you are in the food & beverage industry, is the cost of goods. Now all the goods are increasing in terms of cost. That is what’s killing us in terms of the net income. Basically, my message is that when you’re in a corporation, you’re kind of spoiled. Everything is provided for you and you just have to wait for your salary every month. But if you are an entrepreneur, it’s really different, although you get the net income that you deserve which is based on your efforts.