⌛ Al Capone's Pizzeria

well, I just dried my bitter tears.. considering the name and the .fr in her email address I am more than sad... :(

 

hi chris
what has this piece of flourwaterlokalsausagecheepestcheeseketchupinsteedoftomatoes in breakpoint todo with pizza
typical selfadverticing

 

siquijor

i forget that you have not only alcapone ,you are lucky enough around the corner of bp is the best resto in siquijor holyettes

 

Thanks ginni6 for the Flowers! But the Topic here is, as I remember, Pizza. We don't offer Pizza (not yet) due that is a really tough job to find the right items for a real Pizza here on Siquijor. To find the best flour, Mozarella Cheese, tasty Salami and other important toppings it needs import from Dumaguete, Cebu and Manila.

If you can not use this important ingredients, don't call it Pizza; every other name, for excample "Mafia torta", comes closer to the products name...

Tropical greetings from Larena on Siquijor Island, the most mystic Island of the 7.107 philippine Islands! Scubaholly

 

Chill Gunther, i liked the pizza there..., the doe is yeast risen and they use alot of garlic..., just sayin'.

I'm in Canada, so, this is no self-advertising. Perhaps, thy protest too much?

On another note, what's that place on the top of the hill in Larena?
It's a large round pavillion overlooking the town and bay.
Awsome views.

chris

 

The end?

Customers of us told us today, that "Al Capone" is for sale now. They have seen a sign today at the place. Sad but true: looks like that Siquijor Island is still not a good place for international investors!

 

Suspicious post

Hello all! Well, I am President of the corporation that actually owns Al Capone's Pizzeria on Siquijor.

It was really started as a project so my wife would have something to do with her time there, and also so some of our local friends would have a place they could visit, use reliable internet and relax without any drama in their lives. And our third goal was to create some employment and economic stimulus for the little island.

So, I am not sure on what date Ms. Chantal allegedly visited Al Capone's but, I havn't witnessed any rude ex-pats, being drunk nor have I seen any tattooed Philippino wives in the establishement. Everyone is welcome at Al Capone's, but if someone's behavior were detracting from the enjoyment of other customers, they would most definately be asked to leave.


I am glad Chantal enjoyed her pizza though. That is what she came for, no?

When we opened the business we made a commitment to use only the finest ingredients at all times. Subsequently, as you can imagine this cuts considerably into the profits. Not to mention it is a logistical nightmare.

Due to it being the 'slow season' on Siquijor, the staff was instructed to utilize the smaller oven (which also runs on gas). The large pizza oven uses over P2000 per week in LPG. The key to a good crust is a high heat, and baking stones that must be kept at temperature. Nobody wants to wait one hour for the oven to heat up so we keep the ovens on all the time. The small oven should produce the same results as the small, its only a capacity issue.

As of late, I am intensely involved in the merger of two companies and the acquisition of another company - so I am spending most of my time in Makati. As sod's law has it, my wife has been in the states for the last 3 months preparing one of our homes for sale and shipping a partial container over to the Phils with some of our treasured belongings. So Al Capone's has been managed by distance for about 2 months.

I hired a General Manager who lasted about two weeks before tendering her resignation, I guess the pressure of running a small restaurant with 5 employees is just too much to handle, and seeing as there are a plethora of jobs available on Siquijor, working for two weeks, doing absolutely nothing and quitting with no notice is the standard of excellence one can expect.

This is certainly not a derrogatory comment towards ANY race of people - in fact right now I have more than 300 Philippinos working for me, and they are INCREDIBLE professionals with a wonderful work ethic. I wouldn't trade them for anyone. ANd my management staff are highly educated people, some of whom came from less than NOTHING as far as their upbringing, and were handed NOTHING from their family, yet put themselves through school and fought their way to top management positions in my company making what equates to a very good "western wage" - more than what a lot of foreigners I know live on here in the Philippines.

In any case, if someone had a bad dining experience at Al Capone's they should make it known to the staff on hand, who are instructed to make things right (unlike most Philippino establishments, complaining gets you nowhere). if you get a crust that isnt crispy, send it back. If you have an issue with someone in the bar, make it known to the staff.

I recently promoted one of the staff members as manager. A hard working young lady with a family who has demonstrated good personal growth since her promotion. My wife will be back soon and she has over 10 years hospitality industry experience and she will spend some time with the staff.

Yes, the business is for sale, simply because I can not provide it the attention it deserves, and I would like to see the concept prevail in Siquijor, and I don't want to add to the staggering unemployment the island currently has. At last count, our little business there was directly/indirectly supporting more than 30 people. Since we actually do consider ethics in all of our business decisions, rather than close it down and make it into a private club and issue keys to people I would allow as 'members' - we decided to offer it as a viable business to someone who might benefit from it. In fact, a local family could make a nice living from it based on the P&L analysis I have done.

Finally - I have no idea what Chantal's post is about an unrelated business not paying its employees? This has nothing to do with Al Capone's and I wish one of the moderators would delete that post before it is misunderstood as being related to Al Capones. I employ a full time attorney in Manila, and she has full permission to hit me over the head if I ever do stupid things, let alone violate Philippine labor laws.

To all my friends in Siquijor and Dumaguete... Cheers! And I hope to see you all soon... ANd if you find yourself in Manila, PLEASE get in contact with me!

 

...looks like what I've mentioned before: it's not easy to establish a biz on Siquijor Island, especialy if you aren't around (24h...). There was a announcement in the local press (The Siquijor Mirror) already a couple of month ago, saying, that there is a big lack of working skills and education on the island of Siquijor; stated by a philipino...

My 3,5 years restaurant experience here on Siquijor shows me, that we foreigners are still aliens from outer space here; only our money and investment is very welcome. New ideas to gain tourism here are not or only missunderstood.

We have never experienced support from the officials nor most of the competitors, even we brought guests to their resorts. What we have experienced are only lies and untrue stories against us. Even my boholana wife was confrontated by a San Juan official that we are not wanted here due to both from us are not from Siquijor Island.

I hope, you will remain because you had really the very best Pizza on the island! But don't await help; if it comes call yourself happy!

 

Siquijor

Hello Holly!

Yes, there sure are a lot of challenges to running a business of any sort on Siquijor. Living there is a challenge in itself!

Stacy and I still intend to keep Siquijor as our home. Timing is just bad right now. I have to spend a lot of time up in Makati, and come the weekend the last thing I want to do is sit on an airplane and the Delta ferry. We have the 5 year old who needs to start school. We are concerned about the quality of education she would get on Siquijor.

My other concern about Siquijor is health care. WHen you are healthy, things are great - but if you do have an emergency, what the "F" do you do? ? Not much... I have been to the Siquijor hospital for emergency situations twice (fortunately both times weren't for me, but to assist a friend/neighbor) and lets just say I wasn't too impressed.

Regardless of what anyone around there says, I hope you don't leave! What would I do for a good schnitzel if you left?

If we listened to everyone who had an oppinion on how to run our restaurant, we would be including P500 with every P250 pizza we sold. Everyone wants everything for nothing!

 

Welcome to the club of owning a restaurant!