Bucking convention, Robert “Rob” Pengson, a college dropout, turned out to be an accomplished restaurateur, educator, and founder of several schools.
By day, Pengson plays CEO and president of a trade school, Aleanza Institute of Arts (AIA). At night, he’s the chef in command of his new fine dining restaurant Beso Beso or oversees events prepared by his catering companies: the upscale Beso Beso and the all-occasion, affordable Prima. He is developing his third catering brand, Moto, which specializes in Japanese cuisine.
Inclusive education
Located along Chino Roces Extension in Makati, AIA is the umbrella institution of three schools—management, hospitality and culinary arts, and design and media. The schools hold courses accredited by the Technical Education and Skills Development Authority, and will soon be offering a curricula acknowledged by the Commission on Higher Education. There are short courses and online subjects suited to all kinds of students, from those with learning disabilities to creatives who are uncomfortable with traditional education.
Following the shift to personalized education, AIA adapts the learning according to the student’s abilities, requirements, and interests, and provides them with flexibility in what they want to learn while maintaining high standards of education.
The students’ window to the real world is the cloud kitchen which is tucked in its campus. The commissary serves the restaurant, catering and upcoming takeout-delivery businesses, and the Beso Beso restaurant. Customers can easily order from Pengson’s different brands since the food come from a central kitchen whose operations are under his watchful eye.
“When facilities are shared, we provide better value for money. There’s more variety in the offerings. Everything is homemade such as the ice cream, cake, sauce, longganisa (skinless sausage), tapa (cured meat), and lechon (roasted pig),” says Pengson.
Beso Beso Filipiniana-European, the flagship brand, is a by-reservations restaurant. Because of its location at Aleanza School, both the school and the restaurant are managed in the same way.
Prima’s full-service catering renders everything from the food to the decoration and program production. Pengson cites the International School of Manila’s Filipiniana-themed centennial homecoming as one of Prima’s recent successes. The venue was decked with colorful flaglets and fans. Aside from the Filipino buffet, the guests enjoyed the sorbetes (dirty ice cream) and fish ball stations.
The cloud commissary can accommodate three upcoming delivery businesses. This year Pengson is setting up a lechonera (an outlet selling roast pork), a chicken brand, and a concept that is still being brewed by his business development team.
His foray into culinary schools and takeout businesses was born out of the exponential growth in food industry. Culinary education in Metro Manila alone is an P800-million-peso industry. Likewise, food delivery is a P10-billion business in the NCR and will double in four years.
“Our model is innovative. Three catering brands and three schools share one facility, or there are six businesses under one roof which make it less stressful,” he says. “Other enterprises have one business under one roof. This multi-level strategy is useful when the income from one brand is slower in one season while the rest are higher. We have more time to work on the weaker brand,” explains Pengson.
The system enables the 40-year-old CEO to monitor his staff whose average age is 25. “These are hardworking millennials who enjoy what they are doing,” he says.
Pengson adds that AIA’s model not only allows hospitality and culinary arts students in real-life working situations—business development students can help in the product development, sales, marketing and operations of the food services.
“With the cloud kitchen, students can create brands and develop digital marketing. Business students can research on competition and determine which of brands will survive in 10 years,” says Pengson.
From dropout to CEO/chef/educator
The CEO/chef worked hard to reach this level of success which had eluded him in his youth. Pengson was expelled from an exclusive high school. Undecided of his direction, he took up psychology at University of Sto. Tomas and dropped out after a year.
While visiting a friend, he came across a brochure of the California Culinary Academy (CCA) in San Francisco, an affiliate of the prestigious Le Cordon Bleu. Pengson felt it was a calling. His family members were in disbelief that he wanted to be a chef.
CCA’s European education molded his technique and work ethics. He learned to maximize his time by arriving early in school to prepare for the lessons and was the last to leave by helping out in the next class, reading in the library, or doing extra work.
“I loved working with my hands. I could see my product developing in front of me,” he shares.
After completing his culinary course, Pengson came home and worked at Azzuro restaurant under Chef Philip Golding. In the early 2000s, he also taught at Center for Culinary Arts and realized that he was a natural teacher. He then took up short business courses at the Asian Institute of Management and opened two culinary schools.
In 2009, Pengson teamed up with Chef Sunshine Puey to launch The Goose Station (a pun on degustation) in BGC. It pioneered in a new concept of serving small tasting plates. Eventually, they opened four other concepts including a gourmet comfort food restaurant, a bakery-café, a gastro pub, and a nightclub with a tapas bar.
Over time, their restaurant businesses ran their course. The two culinary schools are under a different management.
Three years ago, Pengson took up short online courses in Harvard and Wharton. “I love studying and sharing what I’ve learned,” he says.
The CEO/chef found his calling as teacher. He realized that if education could be life-changing for him, he could develop a program to help others. At AIA, Pengson teaches entrepreneurship and business development, hospitality management, and, naturally, the culinary courses.
He recalls, “In my younger days, I thought more like a chef. Business school helped me to make work more efficiently with time and resources and to expand without the added stress. With the AIA model, our plan is to expand in Metro Manila and, hopefully, outside.”