5 questions with Kitchen 66’s Manila Ice
Continuing our 5 questions series, we wanted to touch base with an entrepreneur from our Kitchen 66 program. We couldn’t think of anyone better than our recent Launch Program graduate and Takeover Cafe rockstar, Manila Ice! This husband and wife team, Anthony and Melissa, sat down and gave us the scoop on bringing Filipino flavors to Tulsa. Fun Fact: Anthony and Melissa hold the current record for highest sales in one day in the Takeover Cafe at Mother Road Market!
What's the story of how Manila Ice started?
Anthony: Manila Ice in its current form became a concrete idea around 2018, when I started seriously considering opening a business and came up with the name. I went to culinary school a decade before that with hopes of one day opening a Filipino fine dining restaurant, but lacked the experience and confidence to do it. After school, I spent some time training overseas, with a stint in the Philippines. I started to dream of a Filipino place that was accessible but didn’t sacrifice identity. Somewhere I could get good food that was reminiscent of my culture. Something both Filipino AND American. Somewhere delicious and fun. Something that was for me, a basketball and sneaker-loving kid from Broken Arrow whose family comes from the Philippines.
The passion was always there. So I thought, if nobody else is doing it, maybe I should. Skip to 2018. I’m working as an Executive Chef at a sushi bar in downtown BA. I started sneaking Filipino flavors into specials at the restaurant, wondering if anyone would notice, and thrilled when they did. The positive feedback on these specials fueled the push for Manila Ice past just an idea. I started working on names, logos, dishes, and locations. I wasn’t ready to jump and leave the security of a salaried position yet, especially with a wife and two young boys to provide for. When 2020 hit with a global pandemic, restaurants were struggling so we decided to explore other options like a food truck. In 2021, my wife told me about the Kitchen 66 Launch Program. I missed the spring deadline for applications, so I applied for and was accepted into the Fall cohort. We graduated in December 2021. We started as just an idea, and now we’re a full fledged food truck and restaurant in such a short time. We’re still grinding and hustling as a small operation, but it’s been so much fun/work. Hopefully we’ll continue to grow and eventually expand into a brick and mortar location!
How has Manila Ice benefited from the K66 Launch Program?
Anthony: The Launch Program has changed everything for us. Coming from a culinary background, I knew a lot about the food side of the business and the operations. But the Launch Program was able to fill holes in my education. I especially benefited when we discussed taxes, legal, and accounting. K66 also offers a commissary kitchen to work on recipes and that’s been game changing. Additionally, popping up at the Takeover Cafe has been crucial to our development, allowing us a space to test our concept against the local market. Every time we’ve been there it’s been rewarding and educational. Just hearing the immediate feedback has been wonderful. It makes me feel like I’m doing the right thing. I love the community that’s been built and being a part of the local fabric of entrepreneurs. The connections we’ve made in such a short time have been great. Mother Road Market has given us our start and I will always be grateful for that.
“I feel like the place of belonging I’ve been searching for all this time is right here with other food entrepreneurs and the support structure.”
How, if at all, has the concept changed from initial idea to today's version of the food truck?
We called ourselves Manila Ice because the initial idea was to be a halo halo bar with juices, milk teas and coffees. Occasionally we’d have some baked goods like bibingka (rice cake) or ensaymada (sweet roll with butter and cheese). I was jonesing for a Halo-Halo one day and found I had to go to Austin, TX to get one. That bothered me that it was so unavailable. I also wasn’t sure if the market was ready to accept Filipino food so I felt like dessert would be a good gateway. The more I got to thinking about it though, I didn’t feel right only introducing one aspect of our cuisine. Why specialize in dessert when there’s so much more to show off for the culture? It was then I decided to be unapologetically Filipino about it and make what I like and would want to eat. Selfishly, I wanted to cook and eat the food also. It’s been a little more work, but I’m finding it more rewarding to be putting out more variety and seeing the reaction. Now we’re just testing out lots of different items to see what people are into and what will work for the truck.
Where do you come up with your amazing flavor combinations / recipes?
Anthony: I get the inspiration for most of the dishes from memory. Whatever I don’t remember, I ask my family. At that point it’s mostly correcting ratios more or less. As far as the new or innovative stuff, I usually use my imagination and try it. I’ll think of something that theoretically sounds bomb and then bounce the ideas off of friends or family. My Lolas cooked a lot of different Filipino food when I was younger, I think as a way to remind them of home and keep the culture alive. I pick my favorite items and try to refine them using techniques and skills I learned along the way as best I can. Take the Tocino for example, traditionally it calls for pork butt, saltpeter and other curing chemical agents and red food coloring. As much as I loved that growing up, I always felt like it was too artificial. So I make our Tocino with pork belly and I marinate it with more natural flavors like soy and vinegar to help cut the fattiness of the belly. It’s not traditionally artificial red, but hopefully we’re still able to capture the spirit and flavors of the dish. Then there are some items that organically grew into its own thing. The Blackberry Adobo Wings is a dish I used to run at the sushi bar and has its foundations in Filipino flavors, but it’s more indicative of my Filipino-American style. My mom still gives me a hard time for putting blackberries in it since that’s not a Filipino thing!
What advice would you give to other husband and wife team entrepreneurs?
Anthony: You have to be all in. You must approach this venture like you do your marriage. Melissa and I treat Manila Ice like our baby. And we communicate and are on the same page about it (most of the time). It’s tough to be organized, but as long as the lines of communication are open we seem to do well with it. But it can’t all be about work. I think it’s vital to make time for each other too. Work-life balance seems non-existent, but the marriage needs just as much work as the business if not more. So I recommend when in a new business with your spouse, take time to make sure they feel your gratitude and take time to make them feel valued. Melissa: I think the most important thing is that both partners be equally committed. I have every bit of love and passion for Manila Ice that Anthony does, just in my own way. Anthony has his heritage and roots that he is sharing through his cooking, but this is my husband’s culture that we are raising our children with, I feel such pride to be involved. I get to watch my husband’s dreams come true, and show our kids hard work and family roots at the same time. Anthony is a phenomenal chef, and I love meeting and greeting people, so we are a good team. But to be honest, it wouldn’t work if we both weren’t such believers in what we’re doing. So my biggest piece of advice is to make sure that both partners are “into it” and share the drive.
BONUS: What's your favorite menu item?
Melissa: TURON!! (Chicken Tocino is a close, close second!) Anthony: Easy, The Ice Ice Baby. It’s our signature, over the top, shaved ice dessert. There’s something to be said about how nostalgia is among the best flavors. Every time I eat one, I am brought back to young Anthony and the happy childhood memories of the Philippines. Halo-Halo translates to ‘mix-mix’ in Tagalog which is an apt name for the dessert considering it’s a combination of both many ingredients and many cultures. I like to think it kind of embodies me in a way. A combination of my racial heritage and Filipino culture and my Oklahoma upbringing. Plus I’ve been told before that I’m colorful and sometimes a little extra.