Chapter2 – Company Background

2.1 Brief History Tao Yuan Restaurant is a seafood restaurant established by a group of businessmen originated from Singapore. The corporation known for exporting shark’s fin and live seafood to Singapore decided to create a business that is in the food industry as well when this business developed, they then began their Authentic Chinese Cuisine restaurant. With innovation in mind, they decided to incorporate Singaporean Cuisine to the menu and become the first high class Singaporean Restaurant. Being set on having a world-class restaurant, they put up the restaurant at the Malate area- a place known for having an abundance of tourists. On December 16, 2008, Tao Yuan officially opened with the menu full of different unique yet authentic flavours from China and Singapore creatively put together by their Chef from Hong Kong and Singapore. With their wide array of impeccable dishes at reasonable prices, great customer service, Tao Yuan has become the place to be for foreigners, celebrities, as well as well known business tycoons.
2.2 Industry Update Tao Yuan belongs to the food industry in the Philippines. Being open for over five years, Tao Yuan has made their mark in the food industry. They have been known for their authentic dishes, fine cuisine, and excellent service. Tao Yuan is very fortunate in the industry seeing as they pioneered the entrance of high class Singaporean food in the Philippines. So because of this, they have gained customers through time and are loyal to their business as well as their products and services. They have been able to grow and develop their business over time making themselves relatively more advanced than some restaurants because Tao Yuan has been here relatively longer than other restaurants of the same cuisine. A great opportunity Tao Yuan is making use of now is that they have introduced new dishes to the menu- Aunthentic Taiwanese dishes. This is another pioneering edge for them against other restaurants because of the variety they offer to their customers who stay loyal to whatever the company comes up with. They also have loyal and professional workers, a talented and creative Chef- which is the heart of every restaurant. These things then open opportunities for them to expand because they are doing so well already now. The threats that they face in the Industry are the fact that the cost of making quality authentic Chinese and Singaporean dishes increase as raw materials increase as well- it becomes difficult to make their food affordable for everyone. With this, it also becomes more difficult to compete with other less expensive Chinese and Singaporean restaurants because being in the Philippine market, cost would be considered over quallity. Also, because of the success of Singaporean food in the industry, the investments on putting up Singaporean restaurants have increased therefore making more competition for Tao Yuan.
2.3 Products/ Services Tao Yuan offers a large variety of dishes to choose from, from sumptuous Cantonese to refined Singaporean dishes, you name it they have it. They also serve the heart-touching snack, the “dimsum - yamcha” in the afternoon and late at night to its valued patrons. And just recently they have added to their huge portfolio the hotpot menu, which caters to simple yet refined palates. The Cantonese classics they offer differ from the exquisite shark’s fin and abalone to the more humble sweet and sour pork. Other choices include the barbecued selections of asado and roast duck, classics of sweet and sour pork, fried rice and birthday misua, and seafoods such as steamed grouper and fried crabs. The Singaporean selection carries the famous laksa, cereal prawns, chili crab, Hainanese chicken rice and the renowned mango grouper. The dimsum selection serves the classic siomai, hakaw and chicken feet, and it also serves the more delicate ham soy kok, egg tart with bird’s nest and osmanthus flower cake, while the new selection on the hotpot includes a variety of soups, seafood, meat and homemade meatballs by the chef.
2.4 Company Vision/ Mission Statement The vision of the company is: To be able to serve authentic Chinese and Singaporean cuisine at all times, without sacrificing quality and taste. The mission statement of the company is: To provide our diners with the experience of a lifetime, with delectable food and quality service with the lowest possible price.
2.5 Management and Culture The organizational structure of Tao Yuan differs from each area. For the human resource department, accounting department and purchasing department they lean more to the Supportive Model. In this area people are not pressured to finish their tasks, but rather they are being recognized for their work. For the kitchen department, they support an Autocratic Model. The chef acts as a dictator within the confines of the kitchen. Strict instructions must be enforced to ensure the quality of the food. Another reason for this is that the chefs are foreigners, they get easily irritated with the habit of majority of Filipinos being slackers, and thus they view the autocratic model as the only way for Filipinos to work. Lastly the dining department is a Collegial Model. They support one another when it comes to serving the guests. When one guest is being rude, the others will help the staff assigned and they will console one another in times of challenges. They work well as a team and they view their services as an inseparable part of the business.
2.6 Company Officer/ Organizational Structure
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Figure 2.1 Tao Yuan Organizational Chart The president is the owner of the company, and he with his board manages the well being of the business. The general manager is in charge of all day to day operations of all Tao Yuan restaurants, from Malate to Cebu. Also she is in charge of all the departments of the company, she is like the right hand woman of the president. The HR manager is in charge of the Hr department, while the staff are in-charge of computing the salaries, filing, hiring and all necessary actions of the department. The comptroller is the head of the accounting department, and under her the auditors who double check everything for discrepancies and for the transparency of the business. The accounting staff is in charge of all thing related to accounts, such as the release of the payment for payables, and receiving payments. They are also in charge of releasing the salaries of the employees after the HR computes for them. The purchasing manager is in-charge of the purchasing department, which oversees the purchases of the company, from what the restaurants need to what the office needs. The purchasing staff does all of this from receiving orders from the restaurant and bargaining with the suppliers regarding price and payment terms. The branch manager is in charge of the whole operation of the branch and is directly answerable to the general manger. Under her are the head chef, assistant chef, also known as the sous chef, and the kitchen staff. The head chef manages the whole operation of the kitchen from cooking to inventories. The assistant chef shall take charge if the head chef is not around, and the kitchen staff does all the preparations and minor cooking. The branch manager is also responsible for the dining department. Directly under her are the supervisor, assistant supervisor, captain, assistant captain and the waiters. The supervisor is next in line to the manager, he takes charge of the branch if ever the manager is not around and the general manager is in other branches. Under him is the assistant which takes after him if he is not around. The captain is the head waiter, she takes all important orders from VIPs and she is also responsible for the reservations. The assistant captain will only shine during the captain’s absence. If the captain is around she is just there to assist her in everything. The waiters are the people who take orders and serve; they can be referred to as the hands and feet of the restaurant. Without them food will not be able to be served. Lastly, the maintenance and the security are under also the manager, they are in charge of the cleanliness and security of the place.
2.7 Key Processes and Result Areas A. Dining Department - This department handles matters that relates to the overall dining experience of customers. It manages reservations for any dining experience in Tao Yuan and takes care of order-taking tasks in the restaurant. B. Kitchen Department - This department works closely with the dining department. After the order-taking process, the kitchen department receives the orders of the customers and in turn, provides the food ordered. C. Purchasing Department - This department administers the purchasing of goods that are necessary to the everyday functions of the restaurant. In order to assure that goods are available for the restaurant, it keeps continuous track of the inventory of goods in order for them to not run out. D. Accounting Department - This department handles the day-to-day transactions of the company. E. Human Resources Department - This department handles employee-related matters of the company. This includes the process of hiring and training employees. Information on the employees of Tao Yuan are kept and updated in this department. F. Auditing Department - Handles transactions and inventory during year, month and weekends.
2.8 Resources 2.8.1 Physical Tao Yuan restaurant has its own land and building property plus the parking lot beside which can accommodate more than ten vehicles. The area of restaurant is approximately 32-56 sitting capacity at the ground floor with 6 functions rooms at the second floor with 12-16 sitting rooms. Tao Yuan Restaurant can accommodate for all occasions, business meetings and other special gatherings through 6 function rooms. Tao Yuan also has Aquarium located in front of the restaurant, wherein guests can choose their own favorite live seafood to be cooked. In terms of machinery, Tao Yuan only has computers to process the business transaction using through MS office since the Malate branch is manual and WI-FI router to distribute Internet to the customers. 2.8.2 Human As to serve the best quality of service and product, Tao Yuan restaurant Malate branch hires around 80 employees and they are divided and classified into several positions such as managers, chefs, waiters, cleaners, dish washer and security guard. Tao Yuan allocated the most employees in waiter and waitress position to focus on providing the best service and convenience to the customer since the purpose of most people visiting Tao Yuan is for business purpose and meetings. Aside from that to enhance the service to the customer, Tao Yuan allocated many types of chefs in the kitchen such as master chef who is in charge of the general performance of other chefs and the foods to be delivered to the customer, assistant chef who is in charge of assisting the performance of Master Chef and other chefs to adhering to any special requests from the customers since the basic goal of restaurant is to serve the best quality food. 2.8.3 Financial Tao Yuan restaurant currently has no loans and good financial standing according to the manager of the Tao Yuan. Since it is classified, the manager refused to disclose the financial information. 2.8.4 Informational Tao Yuan uses office automation system to process the order entry of the restaurant. Since Tao Yuan has Physical resource as a computer with a Microsoft Office, it helps the manager to recheck the manual computation if there is any error or unbalance.

2.9 SWOT Analysis
|Strengths |Weaknesses |
|-Authentic and delicious Chinese cuisine |-Location, hard to find |
|-Imported chefs |-May be dangerous at night |
|-Quality ingredients |-Traffic |
|-Consistent quality |-High prices |
|Opportunities |Threats |
|-Well trained staff |-Rising cost |
|-Good standing in society |-Quality maintenance |
| |-Bias service. |

Table 2.1 SWOT Analysis
Strength
Primarily their strength of the company is that all of their dishes are authentic and palatable. They are able to achieve this status by hiring genuine Chinese and Singaporean chefs who have worked for high end restaurants from their home-country. They insist on keeping this process because of the owners’ preference. Since the owners don’t have the time to be able to visit their homeland often, they started this restaurant just to satisfy their home sickness. This is the main reason why they insist on the genuineness of the products they serve. Secondly, they are able to source the finest and rare ingredients other restaurants can’t their hand upon. They source far and wide for these ingredients, both locally and internationally. For example, their abalone, they source it both locally and from abroad. They source their fresh abalones from Palawan, and they only purchase abalones of a certain size. They source their dried abalones from Hong Kong, ensuring its fines quality and taste. Another example is their Hainanese chicken, they do not use locally bred chicken, but rather they source it from Singapore, giving it its distinct yellow color, gelatinous skin, and fragrant taste. Finally their most important strength is their consistent quality. They maintain the quality of their food at all cost, they never compromised on a certain dish just to profit bigger, but rather they maintained it to the point of excellence.
Weakness
Their main weakness is their location, situated in General Malvar Street, in Malate, Manila, they are very hard to look for. If you are taking a taxi cab, you won’t be saying Tao Yuan to the driver, but rather the closest landmark, the Pan Pacific Hotel. Another thing is that during the night the place could be quite dangerous and unpleasant to others. Related to this weakness is another one, traffic. Approaching the restaurant you will face Dante’s Gates of Hell. The traffic is so severe that one cannot help but be late to arrive. The traffic is hard to manoeuvre due to many stalling public and private vehicles, and also the disturbing hostesses trying to seduce foreigners. Secondly, the high prices, due to the high quality Tao Yuan offers, they can’t help but to have high prices. This is one of their weaknesses as their clientele are limited to the upper class, and the elite. Also with these prices, their dishes are not that big when compared to the other Chinese restaurants in the Metro, prompting others to go to other establishments for more worth for their money.

Opportunities What sets Tao Yuan apart from other establishments is their well trained staff. Their staffs are trained at least 2 months before they are officially installed to their duties. For example, before the opening of Tao Yuan Magnolia, the staffs were rigorously trained in Malate for 2 months, teaching them the right manner and etiquette befitting that of their work designation. Another of their opportunity is their good standing in the society. Through word of mouth they are able to be known across the Chinese society in the Metro allowing them to grow and expand in less than 10 years. Also the variety of the foods they serve distinguishes them from other establishments. They offer both Singaporean and Cantonese dishes, giving clients a larger variety to choose from. And that their greatest opportunity is being the first Singaporean restaurant to open in Manila, giving them bragging rights and authority on how Singaporean dishes must really be served.
Threats
The major threat they’re facing is the rising costs of everything. The owners have a principle of only increase prices when necessary. They will only raise the prices if ever the cost doesn’t stabilize within 2 months time, prompting them to hold a company meeting to decide upon it. Another threat for them is the quality, they are now slightly being lowered to cover up costs that cannot be passed to customers without the owner’s consent. This was evident when many of the patrons were starting to comment that there was something different to the dishes, that it lacked something. Lastly, the service itself shows inequality. They serve better the people who have expensive orders as compared to the normal ones. They serve them with utmost care while they almost do not approach those people with normal orders without being summoned.