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Local company takes over IHOP/Ajisen on Saipan
Pacific Foods CNMI president Ralph Yumul, leftmost, is joined by Ajisen restaurant staff. (Mark Rabago)
A newly formed local company has acquired the IHOP and Ajisen restaurants on Saipan from Pacific Pancakes and Oishi CNMI.
Pacific Foods CNMI, led by its president Ralph Yumul and his brother, former senator Ray Yumul, and another investor, formally took over the two franchises yesterday.
Ralph Yumul, who is also a former representative, said the over $800,000 acquisition cost is a combination of loan and purchase price.
Negotiations took over six months as they initially only wanted to buy the Ajisen restaurant because of the large amount involved.
“After so many negotiations it became a package deal,” he said.
Ralph Yumul said the acquisition would not affect employees of the two restaurants, as they will retain their current staffing of over 30. They’re looking, though, at cutting operational expenses.
“The major part of it is trying to control the expense. Operating a restaurant in the CNMI is very expensive,” he said.
One of the things being mulled is closing IHOP an hour early. Unlike Ajisen, the former doesn’t really do well during dinner. Currently, IHOP is open from 7am to 10pm daily, while Ajisen is from 11am to 10pm.
They’re also looking at expanding IHOP’s Chamorro breakfast menu and guaranteeing that breakfast is served 12 minutes after being ordered.
Limited parking is also an issue at the current site, Ralph Yumul said. Moving one restaurant to another site would solve the problem.
“It’s easier to move Ajisen because it’s smaller,” he said.
It’s a homecoming of sorts for the Yumul brothers as the family’s YCO Corp. used to operate two Jollibee restaurants on Saipan before closing the last branch in 2008 as the franchise term expired.
“It’s been over 10 years since we operated Jollibee. It’s very exciting for me so when the opportunity came to acquire Ajisen and IHOP I quickly jumped on it,” he said.
Now that a Saipan business owns IHOP and Ajisen, Ralph Yumul is inviting Saipan residents to try out their new restaurants.
“It’s locally owned, so come on down and support local businesses,” he said.
