All-you-can-eat restaurants have long been part of the Filipino dining culture, where birthdays, graduations, and special occasions are celebrated with families and friends; and there’s no venue more fitting than Vikings, the country’s leading buffet restaurant. Whether it’s Western, Chinese, Japanese, European, Filipino cuisine, Vikings is sure to satisfy anyone’s craving for a hearty feast.
Supporting the company’s growth is PLDT Enterprise, whose role in the food service industry is to provide digital infrastructure, communication, and connectivity services to help businesses like Vikings transform and optimize their operations.
“Digital advancements in restaurants have brought about significant changes in the way these businesses operate,” says Ding Villarino, Vice President and Head of Enterprise Revenue Group at PLDT Enterprise. “It’s always been our mission to help them stay competitive, grow, and succeed in a rapidly changing digital landscape.”
A modest beginning
Like most successful businesses, Vikings had its fair share of difficulties before becoming a powerhouse in the luxury buffet industry.
“We had a challenging start before going into digital transformation. We used to handle incoming calls manually with just two lines in our stores,” explains Jackson Go, Managing Director at Vikings Group. “Intermittent internet connections slowed down our operations when we had to accommodate approximately 1,500 reservations daily.”
Dedicated to meeting the demands of their customers, the Vikings Group relied on PLDT Enterprise to help improve their operations. One of the solutions they implemented is PLDT Enterprise’s iGate Premium, which guarantees reliable and stable connectivity to support their day-to-day operations.
“Without connectivity, businesses may risk losing customers, fall behind in the market, or miss out on growth opportunities,” Villarino explains. “For our partners, subscribing to our iGate solution provides them a secure connectivity so they may thrive in the digital age.”
A growth in partnership
PLDT Enterprise has been trusted by the Vikings Group for a decade now, and the long-term collaboration changed the company’s performance for the better. Aside from iGate, Vikings also relied on PLDT Enterprise for its communications support.
“We haven’t been experiencing any internet downtime which is essential to the business, so we had to support this further in our operations,” says Go. “Now, as we continue to grow, we also use around 80 Smart Prepaid accounts for a number of our employees which helps us connect with each other and our clients better and easier.”
From left to right: Michael Adam Ayson, Relationship Manager of PLDT Enterprise; Jerry Dy, Retail Industry Consultant of PLDT Enterprise; Jackson Go, President/CEO/Managing Director of Vikings Group
Since the partnership, the Vikings Group has improved their operations by accommodating higher volume of calls, inquiries, and reservations. From two phone lines in-store, the Vikings Group has now expanded to ten, which includes message-recording features for the security of their transactions.
“PLDT Enterprise helps us connect with our clients better, and that allowed us to increase our sales and improve the overall customer experience,” Go adds. “We’re grateful that we chose PLDT Enterprise as our partner in our transformation journey, and we look forward to continuing our partnership to drive future innovation in our company.”
“The world of food services is constantly changing and evolving; and so are the needs of our partners. We are committed to understanding and accommodating them to help our partners reach greater heights,” says Mitch Locsin, First Vice President and Head of Enterprise and International Business Groups at PLDT and Smart.
PLDT Enterprise, the B2B arm of PLDT, continues to move Further Together with the food service industry by empowering these businesses with technologies and solutions to enhance customer experience and optimize operations.
