NOODLE KING: MANILA- DUTIFUL SON CARRIES ON A 70-YEAR-OLD LEGACY PROMOTING TASTY CHINESE CUISINE Noodle King

Peter Fung
GENERAL MANAGER, LING NAM WANTON PARLOR PRESIDENT, TARZANA CORP

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A “greenhorn” is how Peter Fung describes himself when he embarked on upholding the family legacy of Ling Nam, the popular noodle house marking its 70th anniversary next year.

He was a business management major at De La Salle University when he started out as a manager in the enterprise set up by his father Tomas, becoming President in 1984 upon completing his MBA at the Asian Institute of Management in 1983. To prepare further for the long term, he earned a Certified General Accounting at the University of Toronto in 1989.

Treasured recipe
The second in a brood of four, he has been the only one managing and running all the branches of Ling Nam for more than three decades now. His eldest brother, James, is in Toronto. Only sister, Maryann, is in Los Angeles. The youngest, John, lives in Zurich. All three boys are named after Jesus’ three disciples, who accompanied Him in the Garden of Gethsemane.

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He is married to Evelyn Uy, with whom he has two daughters, Pauline Erika and Trisha Ariane.

Fung may be holding the fort in Manila, but the responsibility to continue his father’s work has been a great source of pride for him. Derived from the words “Ling,” meaning mountain and “Nam,” meaning south, Ling Nam combined refers to a mountain range in the southern part of the Chinese province of Guangdong where the world-famous Cantonese cuisine it offers originated.

What has made Ling Nam a household name is its savory beef wanton noodle, a signature recipe treasured by the Fung family. “That instantly clicked with the customers looking for a hot, tasty meal,” its scion explains.

Fung was still in school in 1975 when Ling Nam conducted an unprecedented growth program. From the original restaurant in Binondo on Teodora Alonzo—still existing to this day—it branched out to Glorietta, Makati. In 1977, Ling Nam opened at Shoppesville in the Greenhills Shopping Center, followed by the Ermita branch a year later. In 1979, Ling Nam in Harrison Plaza started operations, followed by another branch at Makati Cinema Square. To date, there are other branches in Banawe and Shopwise in Commonwealth (both in Quezon City), Lucky Chinatown in Binondo and in San Juan City. There are also branches in Cedar Peak, Baguio City and Puerto Princesa in Palawan.

Fung narrates: “In the eighties, we opened 11 more branches, but we faced a lot of problems. I took care of Ling Nam’s expansion through the years. I lost money, I spent a lot, but that’s the way the business is.

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“When you audit the company, you will really see the problems. God has been testing me, but He has consistently been good to the business and the family.”

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Handson boss
In the days when the dining scene was not as chock-a-block with competition, showbiz stars such as Ric Rodrigo, Rita Gomez and Eddie Garcia frequented the branch in Binondo. In recent years, more celebrities like Imee Marcos, ER Ejercito, Chris Tiu and handsome couple, Richard Gomez and Lucy Torres, were spotted dining in other Ling Nam outlets.

As the business patriarch, Fung is very hands on in running Ling Nam. He determines the pricing and even handles the payroll for employees. “The secretary only does the basic list, but I do the inputting and I make sure that every single centavo goes to the right employee.” For store operations, he delegates that to his operations personnel. As much as possible, he visits all the branches during the week, averaging one branch a day. “With the traffic, I cannot afford to go around all the branches in one day,” he says ruefully.

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Normally, the problem in every branch varies. Yet, Fung has managed to keep things humming through the years. Last year, the sales of Ling Nam’s branch in Shopwise Commonwealth, Quezon City, suffered from the start of the construction of the LRT 7 station. “It was right smack into our branch,” he says. “Our earnings (for that branch) went down by 30 percent. You cannot anticipate government development like that. But we didn’t close down. Tiniis ko lang. [I just live with it].”

Another significant headache is the wear-and-tear of equipment. “The freezers and chillers often break down, and you need to reconstitute them,” Fung also narrates. “Sira ang air-conditioner [the air-conditioner conks out]. You have to address the repair to the point of replacing it. There is non-stop spending on repair or even buying new equipment.”

Facilities in Lucky Chinatown can be a headache, too, at times. He says: “Sewer and drainage are two different lines. Sometimes, we shut down (the branch) for one or two hours just to clean up.”

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Meanwhile, Sunday is a slow day at Ling Nam in San Juan where Boardroom Watch conducted the interview. Fung remarks: “The place is small. But the rent is not too big, so that’s not a problem for us. Our biggest branch is Banawe. Baguio is a nice branch.”

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Need for firmness
Despite the hassles, Fung insists that he rarely loses his cool. “If you get mad, you will die early. Employees who are hard-headed and those who do not report for work can give you problems.

“Fortunately, majority of my staff and employees are easy to deal with and manage. There are some who have been with us for 35 to 40 years. Customers look for them. There are others who passed away even when they were still working with us.”

Pilferage is an unavoidable problem that he continues to deal day in and day out. “You do inventory and when you find out the variants, you charge it to the employee. Through his tips, not through salary deduction. So hindi mabigat [it’s not painful for him or her to bear.]”

Fung recalls other disciplinary measures, saying: “One casserole of beef, weighing 10 kilos, was left lying around and it spoiled. You charge that to the one who’s at fault. He learns from this incident. If you are very brutal or inhuman to your employees, they will not love their work.

“You have to be firm–even your key people fight. But I don’t terminate. I just warn or suspend some people. You have to understand where they are coming from. They are your key people.”

Turnover of personnel is another major migraine. Says Fung: “All my employees are regular. Sometimes, it gets so disappointing when my people get pirated by headhunters for work overseas. Some of them set sail to work in Thailand, the Middle East or even Canada. I think in our business, it’s non-stop recruitment. Employees go to other noodle houses, Chinese restaurants or fast-food chains. There’s constant change. The industry is not small, but it’s also not big. The people simply go around for work or better opportunities.”

Constant reinvention
In dealing with competition, Fung believes that you have to take it as it comes. “Either direct or indirect competition, you cannot stop it. I just make sure that my product survives the competition. You have to constantly reinvent.”

He’s learned to adapt to millennial customers, who boast different consuming habits. “They don’t go for big servings. Their pockets cannot afford it, so they share. Instead of one full meal, they’d go for pica-pica or combination.” Through the years, Fung beams that Ling Nam has never deviated from its successful business formulation for the past 70 years. “We never change,” he insists. “Noodles, siopao and siomai, that’s our core. To this day, we make our own noodles and we still use egg.

“People returning from overseas visit Ling Nam. Sometimes, it’s as soon as their plane touches down at the airport. We’re their first stop.”

Ling Nam also doesn’t rely on multi-million advertising campaigns to promote the business. Neither does it compromise or scrimp on materials, ingredients or flavor for its products. “Our siopao is 100 percent pure beef,” Fung declares. “We don’t use extenders. It’s easy to camouflage and just add flavoring. How can you eat a siomai, four pieces, for only P25? Our siomai is P35 per piece. We started offering a smaller size. Young people prefer a smaller siopao or siomai.”

Ling Nam also uses soup bones for its soup. “We never use powder,” Fung reveals. “We use beef brisket for our wanton noodles, so it’s really tasty.”

It’s no wonder that Ling Nam remains one of the top players in the food industry when it comes to Chinese noodle cuisine. Fung remembers his father’s sage advice, which may account for Ling Nam’s longevity. “Always maintain the quality standards that our company is known for,” the old man told his offspring. “Never compromise on quality even with rising food prices. We would rather lose to our business competitors, standing up for our standards and principles than compromise and ruin our good name.”

To this day, this philosophy is kept by his dutiful son, a commitment that brings pleasure and satisfaction to millions of loyal customers.

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Keeping cool through the years
Hassles such as the air-conditioning breaking down and high staff turnover are “part of the business” and have made Peter Fung philosophical. His reasons…

• If you get mad, you die early.

• When pilferage happens, you charge it to the employee–through his tips, not salary deduction. So he or she can manage it.

• You always have to be firm even with your key people. But I don’t terminate. I just warn or suspend people. You have to understand where they’re coming from.

• In our business, it’s non-stop recruitment. Get used to it. Change is constant. People go around for better opportunities.

PHOTOS BY HARVEY TAPAN