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Who is Juan Carlo Del Rosario?

Juan Carlo is the sole heir to one of the most highly acclaimed catering services, which was named after him, Juan Carlo Catering Inc. They do weddings, corporate events, debuts, and even kid parties. I personally think that they’re one of the best caterers in terms of décor, taste, selection, price, and service. 

Do you ever argue with your dad at work?

JC argued a lot with his dad, particularly before he had a large stake in the company. He would regularly spite his father by smoking right in front of him just to get him mad.

The disrespectful behavior that JC had disappeared all of a sudden when he learned that God will always love him no matter what. With the feeling of security from the Lord, JC had begun to forgive his dad for pushing this heavy responsibility towards him.

JC’s father leads by example. He doesn’t have to tell you what to do, instead, he lets his actions tell everything. Even now, he is 60 years old and he still helps out when there’s a shortage of people. He doesn’t want his people to think that he is the type of leader to just sit around.

The brand that JC’s father built is amazing. From its humble beginnings in his grandfather’s kitchen to one of the best and most famous catering companies in the Philippines. 

Nobody could ever stand up to JC’s dad even if he wasn’t perfect. He had his flaws when it came to leading the business because he is a self-made man.

How do you plan on continuing the legacy of your parents?

The first thing that JC has to do is to accept who he truly is. He is not a chef and never will be. He is not as passionate about the food aspect of the business as his parents were. He knows that his strengths lie elsewhere. 

His dad was an engineer at first, but he turned out to be a great leader for this catering business. JC was the numbers guy. He was the one who knew more about marketing and accounting.

They used their strengths to complement each other and to make sure that Juan Carlo The Caterer grew to what it is today.

That said, JC attributes his knowledge and wisdom to the field more from the many mentors that he’s had instead of the upbringing he experienced. He learned far more from his network than his time at university.

JC is currently focusing on the things that interest him the most in the business. This led him to immerse himself, particularly in design. He and his wife, currently the Creative Director of Juan Carlo the Caterer, have pushed themselves to provide new, better designs for the company, and JC couldn’t be prouder.

With their family and business dynamic, JC believes that they are a more effective business than before. This is all because JC is able to help the company based on what he is good at—particularly investing, entrepreneurial endeavors, and searching for marketing opportunities. 

Recently, JC has secured three venues wherein they’ll be the exclusive caterer for all events. He is currently integrating a business model that he learned from Microtel and the fact that Juan Carlo’s brand is as big as it is helps in these marketing efforts. 

JC and his wife have this goal of becoming more immersed in the operations of the business. They even considered not taking a vacation just to spend more time in the kitchen or the commissary.

As a child, JC wanted to learn about everything right away. But in the long run, especially after maturing into the man that he is now, he realized that learning and growing don’t happen overnight. Especially when he compares himself to his father. His father has years of experience in this field while JC is just starting.

One of JC’s statements stood out from the rest. “The greatest mentor you could ever have is right in front of you” pertaining to his father. 

Right now, JC is extremely happy with his working relationship with his parents. He still gets to arguments from time to time, but it’s all for the best of their company.

In fact, disagreements are common between the family members, because they’re also colleagues who are trying to run a business. In their case, these dialogs happen on and off work.

They have to segregate the identity of being family members whenever they’re talking about business and vice versa. This helps keep the level of respect present, and the familial bonds concrete.

To solidify his place among the higher management, JC had to be different from all the others.

He tried his best to be the guy who can see all the problems—which he presented to his parents, but they didn’t listen. When the time came when JC was also part of the higher-up. He realized that he didn’t need to be presented with the problems because he already knows about them. What he needed were solutions.

With this realization, he began to present problems coupled with the potential solution to his parents. And when these solutions worked—when they made an impact on the business—then his parents began to listen to him more frequently. They saw him as not just their son, but also as a welcome asset to the business.

Have your parents ever turned down one of your proposed solutions?

There were times when JC’s parents outright turned down his proposals. But the majority of the time, he was allowed to do his own projects.

For example, in his second year in college, he already spearheaded his brand called Debut by Juan Carlo. Here, he used his thesis which was an integrated marketing campaign and took advantage of that to increase their business’ revenue by a significant percentage.

JC made himself accountable right from the start for all of the changes that he wanted to make—and that was one of the factors on why his parents began to truly listen to him.

This act of accountability reminded me of my concept of it. In SEO Hacker, we call it “Lengthening the rope”.

When people start working with me, I give them a figurative rope. One end is with me, while the other is with them. The more that people show me that they have integrity, can be trusted, and are responsible, then I will lengthen the rope. This means they have more freedom to do what they want, and I will be more favorable towards specific requests.

But the more that they show me that they lack integrity, they don’t do what they say they will, they’re not where they’re supposed to be, the more I will shorten the rope until you’re right beside me and I’m looking at everything that you’re doing.

I think that’s what happened with you and your parents. And it has turned you into a fine businessman.