Yarim Cafe is a humble café located in the heart of Oton Iloilo. If you are looking of a new restaurant to try that offers a Middle Eastern taste, this is the place for you. However, running a completely foreign cuisine is not that easy on a place like Iloilo. It may require a whole lot of courage to stand out and compete from the usual.
We had this opportunity to read the answers directly from the owners – Riyadh A.M Abdulrahman & Nerisa Delfin A. AlRahman.
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Please share something a little about Riyadh A.M Abdulrahman & Nerisa Delfin A. AlRahman.
I am a native of Yemen and I met Nerisa in our early 20s. We met in a Subway branch in downtown Dubai. “Yarim” is Farsi in origin which means “my love”. Yarim Café opened in Barangay Buray, Oton and after less than a year, we decided to transfer to a more visible locations to cater guests from Iloilo City and neighboring towns of Oton.
For a more personal stories, please refer to their Cream interview.
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With all the food places to compete in Iloilo, how do you keep your menu and offers exciting?
We use Facebook to launch weekly or monthly our new dishes from our menu. It has gone a long journey to enrich the guests satisfaction and yet, always posting new dishes for whoever love to explore.
- What are some of the biggest challenges you have encountered and what did you learn from them?
Supplies. When it comes to larger demand, it is difficult to have regular supply and we only have one source here for all our business needs. Inventory in the malls and supermarkets are not monitored well.
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What is the biggest fulfillment you have in having this business venture?
Being able to create a unique brand in the local market and successfully introduce Middle Eastern dishes for the first time in wide range which got high rate of appreciation with all the people from the city of love and hopefully to a further destination in future.
- Any final message or advice you can share to someone who is dreaming about having a restaurant?
It is important for any individual or company to define their target market and list their goals and underlined them and work hard for it and have a clear vision and mission to be able to have a successful start.
To read the full guide about this cafe, you may visit my previous post on Yarim Cafe.
