Businesses in the neighborhood of barangay Poblacion, a hip cultural district in Makati City known for its nightlife and creative F&B concepts, have been witnessing a revival after the height of community quarantine restrictions forced the shutdown of several of its establishments. While resilient business owners are picking up the pieces, they are still having to deal with leaner foot traffic — and, for some, complaints about their prices.
One such restaurant is Onlypans Taqueria, a cheekily named taco joint located on Don Pedro Street. Some customers had apparently criticized the taqueria for setting their prices too high but Onlypans owners weren’t having it. In an Instagram post, they pushed back on the idea that their tacos are “too pricey”, noting that a solo order, which costs PHP350 (US$6.69) for two tacos, comes with “approximately 400 grams of meat, fresh vegetables, house special sauces, good soup made of authentic Mexican spices.”
“Some of y’all would ask about the prices of our menu and for everyone’s peace this is what I have to say,” the page wrote on Facebook.
“We’re a small business that caters to quite a lot of people in the area. We started with a one-man team, turned two, [and are] now 20. Our pricing doesn’t [just] revolve around food costing but also proper labor. We have the right reasons for this. I hope you know that when you eat in our taqueria, you pay for our good food, authentic experience and most importantly — you pay for our talented and skilled chefs,” the shop said, adding, “I will say this again and again, if you can respect the medical and legal industries, you can also respect us in the F&B industry.”
Onlypans added that their goal was to motivate their staff and made sure that they were paid well for what they do.
“We are advocates of good governance & positive reinforcement. We are with our people on this. We’re small but our ultimate goal is to be able to give more proper jobs. Our vision is to elevate the standards in the service industry because we honestly deserve better than what is being given by most of the capitalist food groups in the country. We want to compensate and give the best benefits to our team because that’s hard work. Kitchen work is difficult & should be honored all the time.”
The restaurant ended its post by asking its customers to provide constructive criticisms instead of complaining, as “small businesses like us are always willing to improve and learn.”
“Think about us like how we think about you. We value you so much and we hope you do too.”
Beginning as a takeout service for sushi bake pans in 2020, Onlypans shifted to tacos and Mexican fare in September last year before opening its Makati shop in April this year.
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