In the aftermath of the COVID-19 pandemic and Super Typhoon Odette, Lantaw floating restaurant has managed to survive, with the help of Converge ICT Solution’s pure-fiber connection, through only delivery service.
Tourists looking for new places to eat in Cebu should visit Lantaw, a floating restaurant off the coast of Cordova. It’s worth the trip! Surrounded by tranquil blue waters, the place offers a unique dining experience for visitors in search of an authentic feast of Filipino dishes such as sutokil, niligang baka, crispy pata and sisig, among others. To the uninitiated, sutokil is short for sugba (grill), tula (stew) and kilaw (raw fish served in vinegar-based dressing).
“It is akin to how you would feel if you are dining by the sea,” said Pages Food Group marketing head Trisha King. “We have the freshest catch of the day since we have sutokil and grilled offerings.”
Lantaw boasts of a Filipino food spread featuring the freshest catch of the day found in the sutokil and grilled selection
But like most restaurants in the country, Lantaw’s operations were affected by the COVID-19 pandemic. No sooner has it started to recover after the restrictions were eased, when Super Typhoon Odette hit the province last year, nearly reducing the floating restaurant into bits and pieces of floating debris.
To keep the restaurant’s operations afloat, Pages Food Group, the company behind Lantaw, decided to grow their presence on social media and develop their own in-house online delivery service to cater to customers’ orders.
To realize this, they fully embraced digitalization and relied on Converge ICT Solution’s fiber connection to achieve seamless point-of-sale (POS) transactions and other necessary internal systems. The move also helped them to stay connected with their diners online. “Even before Odette, we already had Converge in several of our restaurants,” King said.
Pages Food Group marketing head Trisha King
Rebuilding
This year, Pages Food Group plans to fully reconstruct Lantaw floating restaurant. While the restaurant is in the process of rebuilding, the owners converted the adjacent parking lot into an open-air dining area to accommodate customers. They also opened their second branch at Il Corso also in Cebu.
“We decided to rebuild a small portion, like a prelude to our floating restaurant, because we want to make sure the brand continues to be present in Cebu,” King said. “Because everybody still loves Lantaw.” Reggie Abang
