Lita’s culinary passion and humble beginnings
Passion — a value that has played a central role in the success of Café Laguna, one of today's proudly Cebuano brands.
Its founder Julita "Lita" Urbina is a woman of culinary prowess.
She loves cooking — she loves food — and has built one of the successful familyowned homegrown restaurant companies in Cebu.
What was then a small eatery in Lahug, Cebu City is now one of the popular restaurant brands in town.
She's managed Laguna Group of Companies which now has several resto brands under it.
But looking back, Café Laguna started a very humble beginning.
PASSION FOR
COOKING
The restaurant enterprise is a labor of love of Julita, who comes from a family of culinary enthusiasts, and her late husband Ricardo Urbina.
Julita, inspired her mother, nurtured her passion for cooking through years of learning and perfecting homecooked dishes.
She has proven her culinary prowess.
"I really love cooking. I'm passionate about cooking," the matriarch of the Urbina family said in an interview recently.
From Laguna province in Luzon, Ricardo and Julita and their children relocated to Cebu in the late 1970s and opened a small carenderia called “Mother’s Best" in their rented apartment along Wilson Street in Lahug to augment the family's income.
Later on, with a measly capital of P300, this simple "turo-turo" eatery transformed into a fully airconditioned 10-table small restaurant with a Spanishinspired facade eventually named Café Laguna in 1991 at Veteran’s Drive in Lahug.
It started serving the famous puto bumbong, lumpiang sariwa, pancit palabok and treasured traditional Filipino recipes.
The restaurant serves authentic Pinoy dishes reminiscent of the owners' roots in Laguna.
Over the years, the resto has become known with its Tagalog dishes such as karekare, fish and fried lumpia, crispy pata, pancit palabok, pandan chicken, puto bumbong, palitao, sinigang (fish and pork), and dinuguan, and among others.
During the 80s, Julita ventured into catering which immediately became a hit, eventually serving some of Cebu’s top companies. From the beginning, her children showed their support by helping out even while studying.
WHEN IT STARTED
EXPANDING
It was in 1994 when the business opened a branch in Ayala Center Cebu.
And in 1999, the company constructed its own two-storey building beside the mall to establish Laguna Garden Cafè.
Through the years, the group expanded.
Today, it has now eight restaurants in Cebu under the brands of Café Laguna, Asian streetfood-inspired resto Ulli's, Laguna Garden Café, U Kitchen, Parilya, Vietnamese and Thai resto Lemon Grass and Laguna Catering.
Through franchising, the company has expanded to five branches various cities in Visayas and Mindanao namely Cagayan de Oro, Davao, Iloilo, Dumaguete and General Santos.
Julita is proud that what started as a "one-woman show" business with only two assistants then — her launderer and driver — now employs over 300 people across all its restaurants.
She's also surrounded with supportive children led by Chef Raki, Grace, Jill, Jet and John.
"Passion and hardwork," the matriarch said when asked what drove the business to what it is today. years ago would be a recipient of various recognitions.
It got a Store Operations Excellence award in 2004 and 2009 from Ayala Center Cebu.
Julita was also awarded as Entrepreneur of the Year by the Cebu Chamber of Commerce and Industry in 2002, and Ernst and Young for Small Business Category in 2006.
She was also named Valuable Entrepreneur from Perlas Awards, Philippines Foundation Inc. in 2010.
The resto also got several awards and recognitions including Certificate of Excellence from Trip Advisor, Best Filipino Restaurant in 2007 by Zee Bigfoot Choice Awards and Philippines’ Best Restaurants awardee from Philippine Tatler Dining.
Truly, Julita's successful food venture has made Cebu to be known as a growing culinary destination in the south of the Philippines.