Cover Photo: courtesy of Prologue d’Fined
Photo: courtesy of Prologue d’Fined
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The young gourmand took her shared passion for food with her family and turned it into a booming business portfolio that includes restaurants Prologue, Siam Thai, and speciality food store Dough & Grocer
You know the conversation is juicy when you switch from coffee to wine. I was having lunch with restaurateur Alyanna Uy at her restaurant Prologue in boutique hotel Aruga in Rockwell, Makati. This particular branch services the guests of the hotel so it has everything from breakfast staples, to pastries, and your usual continental fare too. Since Prologue is best known for its twist on French bistro food, Uy recommended that I try their beef bourguignon. Tender, gelatinous beef in a rich brown sauce, cradled by creamy potato purée and accompanied by crisp vegetables, it was a flavourful and comforting meal. However, I realised it was not the brunch dish I was hoping to match with my late-morning coffee.
Should we have a glass of wine, I jokingly asked my host, eager to move on from coffee. “Yes, we should,” she quickly answered and waved over one of her servers to ask for the wine list. Wine seems to be an always easy “yes” for her, and being the oenophile that she is, it is a beverage she readily consumes throughout the day. Not that we needed it to lubricate our already well-seasoned banter, which lasted well past coffee, through lunch, and well into a couple of glasses of the lovely Burgundy she shared with me.
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Born into a food-loving family, the business was not initially food, but somehow food-adjacent. The Uys were into agriculture—still are—and raised animals and manufactured feeds in their farms in various provinces within a few hours drive from Metro Manila. Their first foray into food and beverage was through their franchise of Ramen Santouka, which was their favourite ramen shop when the family was still based in Canada. They brought it into the country in 2013, a few years after they moved back to the Philippines with the entire brood. They experimented with some homegrown concepts and other franchises—some of them flourished (like their casual Thai concept Siam Thai which just opened a third branch in Estancia Mall) while others had to be given up. Still, Uy candidly shares how they took it all in stride, crediting it to experience as they felt their way through their ventures. Their relationships with their Japanese business partners also introduced them to another Japanese franchise called Bijin Nabe, which is a popular hotpot concept that uses rich collagen broth for beauty benefits (aside from delicious and hearty soups).
The Uys opened Epilogue in S Maison in 2017 with their Japanese chef handling French food, and despite a cult following, they also had to shut it down during the pandemic. Its legacy, though, is the idea of Prologue which stands today, popular and thriving. It is a more casual younger sister concept to Epilogue and first opened in Tomas Morato in 2019. They even diversified the Prologue concept by opening an upscale version in Mitsukoshi mall called Prologue d’Fined.
What helped the Uys’ restaurants get through the lockdowns was their deli and bakery business Dough & Grocer. The transition to this digital platform (which now has brick-and-mortar outlets) made total sense considering they were importing so many of their ingredients for both franchise and homegrown concepts. This was also around this time when Alyanna had to make the decision between her career in finance and working full-time for the family business. “I was doing mostly marketing before, and so I can do that remotely while still having my full-time job at the bank,” she narrates. “My colleagues were actually really supportive; they would attend restaurant openings. And when they had to set up meetings or do client dinners, they would do it in one of our restaurants.”
However, when Dough & Grocer boomed as an e-commerce site, Uy realised it could no longer take a backseat. “The pandemic really changed how we did things,” she muses. “I cannot imagine Manila now, without the services that came out of the pandemic. Everything now is delivered.” While Uy has always been trained to work with numbers, there was also that side of her which enjoys creative pursuits like graphic design and photography. From simply designing websites for their F&B businesses, her hands were suddenly full with the e-commerce site and she could no longer combine it with the job at the bank. The world of food and beverage gave her numerous opportunities to apply herself beyond her technical skills, and so her choice was easy. Apparently, she’s not the only one in the family who is enjoying a new industry: “My dad is actually an architect,” Uy imparts, “so he designs all the stores. He still runs the agribusiness and that takes up most of his time, but architecture is still very much a hobby of his.”
In fact, it is this shared passion for culinary delights between father and daughter that fuels their food and beverage business. They travel a lot as a family; Alyanna and her dad always make time to eat in the popular restaurants in the city, discovering the local cuisine and best chefs while of course enjoying the finest wines. Today, Alyanna takes the lead in managing the food business, while her two brothers are involved with the agribusiness, and her sister works as a medical doctor. “She just eats,” Uy shares, laughingly.
With two more Siam Thai concepts coming, Prologue opening in Estancia, another Bijin Nabe, and Dough & Grocer launching its third brick-and-mortar in Greenhills, Uy is clearly on an upward trajectory. Since they import their own Wagyu too, they plan on putting a niku-kappo on the mezzanine of the Greenhills deli, expanding their exploration into Japanese cuisine. “It’s a way to promote our meat,” she explains. “That way people can try it first and hopefully they will like it and bring home more Wagyu to cook at home. It is a casual and economical way to enjoy this premium meat, which usually costs double or triple if they are to order it in fancy restaurants.”
The other half of our conversation probes more into the happenings within the industry—the cliques, the characters, and the occasional sprinkling of drama. Uy is clearly very much immersed in this new world she finds herself in and is quickly becoming one of its more endearing personalities. Despite the evident youth and effervescence, she also is clearly driven to succeed, she continues to enthusiastically build their restaurant business, which is supported by a thriving supply chain enterprise. Uy’s natural passion for food, combined with her business smarts and creative streak, definitely makes the perfect pairing for success, and we can’t wait to hear more about what is next.
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Jaclyn Clemente Koppe is a food and lifestyle writer, as well as a consultant to some of the country’s beloved food and beverage brands. Her passion for food and drink is only surpassed by her devotion to her family, most especially to her soulmate, Pepa the poodle.
