From food to beauty

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After the ownership shift at Bistro Group, what’s next?

LAST YEAR, ownership of The Bistro Group shifted to the Bounty Fresh chicken family, the Chens. What’s next then, for Bistro Group founder, William Stelton? Quite a lot.

On March 5, BusinessWorld took a tour of a portion of the 6th floor of the Shangri-La Plaza mall. That area, called the Techno Holdings Health & Beauty Hub, is occupied by businesses in Mr. Stelton’s Techno Holdings Corp.: NORA Japanese Hair Salon, its training arm NORA Lab, Phiten (a sports-centric boutique), and Miss Esthe Facial Salon and Skin Care.

NORA is owned by Hidezaku Ando, though Techno Holdings has two branches as part of a franchising deal, in Shangri-La and in Alabang. All the hairstylists go through Mr. Hidezaku’s training for six months, and only allowed on the floor once they pass (Mr. Hidezaku is based in the Philippines and has three other branches under his own name: in SM North EDSA, in Makati’s Legaspi St., and in Robinsons Place Manila). NORA, with 12 branches in Japan, is listed on the Kami Charisma Japanese Hair Salon Guide (like a Michelin Guide for top-rated restaurants). They use hair products from Japanese company Milbon, according to Mylene Manlogon, vice-president for business development of Techno Holdings. According to her, Milbon products, present in the Japanese market for 40 years, are tested on human hair and take into account water acidity in every country they’re imported to.

Miss Esthe, meanwhile, uses products they developed themselves, and every treatment by Japanese-trained estheticians is customized according to age bracket and skin condition of the customer.

Phiten, meanwhile, focuses on athletic health and performance, especially on products that integrate metals into wearable items. Soon, Phiten will also open the Phiten IP Salon, featuring advanced wellness technologies, including a hyperbaric oxygen (O2 Alpha) chamber, the Light Bathing Capsule, the Aqua Titan Bathing Egg, Bathing Egg Beauty, and water-wave massage beds.

All of these brands are from Japan.

“We’re sure about the quality (of Japanese products) and the brands that we carry,” said Ms. Manlogon during the tour.

“We’d like any of our clients to make sure that when they come in, and then when they go out, they feel like a new person,” she said. “They have to have a certain level of happiness that was not there before.”

They are surprisingly affordable (but we must admit we didn’t focus too much on Phiten’s offerings). A haircut at Nora costs about P500++, while treatments at Miss Esthe start at a little over P1,500.

Mr. Stelton’s businesses, after food, cover a whole range of industries. These include lighting, hotel and restaurant equipment, lawn and golf course care, and then beauty and wellness, among others. This isn’t new to the company: they’ve been offering body alignment treatments from Karada for about 13 years, not to mention another business in beauty, Stelton Dermascience. Miss Esthe has been in the country through the company for seven years. “Everything for everyone in the family,” Ms. Manlogon said about the Steltons’ mix of businesses. “All are complementary brands.”

With the aforementioned acquisition of The Bistro Group last year, Ms. Manlogon discussed this new chapter in everything else except food. “He says that everyone in his family and community would relate to health, beauty, and wellness. We need it — and we would want to be beautiful all the time, and of course we want to be healthy.

“I think that’s the threshold and the focus of the company; where we’re going.” — Joseph L. Garcia