Hubert Young’s fondness for Japanese food concepts — for his first venture UCC in particular — started back in the 1980s during his travels in Hong Kong where he had his first taste of the famous coffee.
But it was not until late 1990s that the idea of bringing the brand to the Philippines came to Young’s mind.
Today, UCC in the Philippines may be regarded as among the most successful outside Japan.
The success of UCC in the Philippines became Young’s ticket to a number of other Japanese restaurant brands, the latest of which is MOS Burger set to open its first branch in Robinsons Galleria on February 27.
Fresh out of university in the 1980s, Young started a career with Hills Bros. Coffee in San Francisco, California. The Young family eventually brought the brand to the Philippines.
Young is the second of three boys of George Young Sr., one of the founders of General Milling Corp. (GMC).
As observed in Chinese tradition, the Young brothers were expected to help in the family’s flour business. George Jr., the eldest, became the captain and eventually successor to his father at GMC.
“My dad encouraged me to do other things. I knew business is never forever. You have to look for opportunities… you have to evolve, grow and develop,” Young said.
Young became the discoverer of business ideas which he would discuss with his family.
His experience at Hills Bros. where he did all sorts of jobs as administrative manager– from running a plant, to coffee trading, manufacturing and sales and delivery –became Young’s tuition to get the rights to bring to the Philippines UCC, a Japanese brand that was never even heard of back in the 1990s. Back then and until today, UCC Group has the license to produce and sell Hills Bros. products.
This was at the time when an American coffee chain was opening stores left and right in the country.
“I felt the Philippines was ready for a foreign brand such as UCC. I thought if I stepped in early, we would have time to grow the brand,” said Young.
He then called UCC Japan and offered to represent the brand in the Philippines.
“My relationship (with Hills Bros.) made it easier (to get UCC). Either I was lucky or I had the foresight,” said Young.
By 2000, UCC’s first store opened on Tomas Morato.
The early days of UCC were challenging.
“I was not an F and B (food and beverage) person. I did not know how to run a coffee shop. I was running the shop like the kitchen of my house. I would go to the supermarket and buy the raw materials, the vegetables myself. I was doing everything, I’d even wash the dishes. I would open the store at 6 a.m. and close it at 1 a.m. the following day. My office was a small desk and my files were at the back of my car. I was learning from nothing,” said Young.
Today, UCC has 40 stores with some of them now bearing different variants with different looks and ambience: UCC Vienna, UCC Park and UCC Clockwork.
“I didn’t want all my stores to look the same. I wanted a coffee shop with a hotel ambience and make it the venue for business meetings. I always joke that deals made in our shops made more money than what our cafe has made,” Young said.
With basically the brand rights, Young was left alone by UCC Japan in running the coffee shops.
The first menu came from headquarters but Young evolved it with no restrictions.
UCC’s beginnings in the Philippines as a coffee shop chain would eventually be expanded to include the rights to manufacture the brand’s coffee in the country.
When GMC lost its rights over
Hill Bros. following the latter’s sale to a European food giant, the Youngs started their own brand, Cafe de Oro.
Young himself went into coffee roasting. He had a few accounts like restaurants, hotels and fastfood chains.
By 2014, the Youngs formed a joint venture (JV) into what is now one of the biggest roasting companies in the Philippines, with the coffee shop an extension of that partnership.
The JV became UCC Ueshima Coffee Philippines Inc. where Young is chief executive officer.
“UCC started the JV with us knowing that I have helped build the brand for them. There was goodwill,” he said.
Today, UCC coffee can also be found in retail outlets in all forms, from instant, to pour-over, drip and 3-in 1.
“I’m like the mini UCC in the Philippines. I have the most complete line including the academy, trading, roasting, coffee shops, the B2B (business to business) and B2C (business to consumer),” said Young.
With coffee shops as his foundation in F&B, Young took an offer to bring in a Japanese brand from Singapore, Sakai Sushi, the conveyor belt sushi restaurant concept.
He also spun off a ramen product being offered in one of the UCC stores in 2010 – long before the ramen craze – into the main dish of a tsuke-men shop. Mitsuyado Seimen on Jupiter street in Makati City became a destination due to its unique offering, noodles served in dipping sauce.
Young said his next venture was a long shot.
“Coco Ichibanya was a big risk because Japanese curry was not so popular to Filipinos. Plus (to bring the brand over to the Philippines) we competed with big names in the country.
Eventually, our experience in UCC …all these years being with UCC was what made Coco Ichibanya look at us seriously,” Young said.
“So today I tell everyone `your name, your credibility is important’,” Young said.
Coco Ichibanya opened in 2015 and now has 10 stores.
For MOS Burger, negotiations with the Japanese started as early as 2018 but the joint venture was formed in 2019 under the retail trade law.
Young said the JV had all the ingredients needed to make MOS Burger a success: backbone for F&B that is supported by logistics, a commissary, a bakery, (flour) and coffee.
Young admits his hands are full at the moment but he is also open to any concept that would complete him as an entrepreneur.
“Being an entrepreneur is not `de kahon,’ it’s all about opportunity,” he said.
“I want to use my skills and my team on something else. I have a fully established marketing (team) kitchen, logistics, everything is in place but I want to maximize them,” he said.
That can come true with MOS Burger coming in. MOS Burger has a wider market range and has the potential to grow.
Young looks at MOS Burger as his UCC from 20 years ago.
“As (UCC) turns 20 this year, it’s like I am starting a new life with a different product. Whatever success I did for UCC 20 years ago for a never-heard brand in this country…(I will do with MOS Burger).”
Turning 60 this year, Young is building a team so his businesses can move farther.
“I want a team in place , more brains, more hands, more eyes. But I will still have my fingers dipped into all these things, I will never retire anyway,” Young said.
