Lifetime passion
Alun Evans has always been living his lifetime passion—managing restaurants. He is the hands-on founder of Antipodean in Paseo 111 Building. He also remotely manages Antipodean locations in Malaysia and Indonesia.
“I really love what I do. I can’t think of my life without having restaurants,” he confessed. This is why he admits that the past 18 months had been devastating as he saw his business somehow almost ‘disintegrate’ due to inevitable occurrences that are beyond his control.
As a restaurateur and for most of his life, Evans has been living a daily routine—waking up at 3:45 a.m., going straight to the gym to work out before returning home to check emails. He is bound to be at the restaurant by 6 a.m. But because the gyms got closed for a long time due to the series of lockdowns, he instead started walking around the community as a form of physical exercise.
Passion to serve people
The interrelated passions can be summed up to his commitment to serve others. On top of his subconscious must be the desire to make his customers happy through serving the best food and of course, coffee. Proof to this is the vast menu in Antipodean—over 120 dishes, excluding tens of coffee blends—all available and prepared on-demand daily.
Each dish is a product of meticulous development through the years—obtaining diverse influences from different cultures, especially in places where he had traveled to. Every coffee blend took months or even years to develop using Indonesian coffee beans, which in turn are being specially cultivated by Antipodeans partner communities utilizing special procedures for farming and roasting.
Evans prioritizes not just the satisfaction of Antipodean’s loyal patrons but also the welfare of his staff and all other stakeholders in the business.
Extended family
“The success of a restaurant depends on your people. If you haven’t worked with people, you are nothing. That is why the staff are family to us,” he said. Thus, it was very hard for him to streamline operations during what he considers “the darkest time of my life.” Antipodean will keep its doors open to welcome back staff who had to take a leave during the pandemic
Antipodean remains firm in its decision to keep its pre-pandemic menu prices. “I don’t want to penalize customers because of the pandemic. I’d rather have 350 to 400 customers coming in each day than to have 50 going out for good,” he emphasized.
For Evans, restarting the business is not about making money. It is about seeing people have a good time and enjoy the food and the dining experience. Indeed, a man who has genuine affection and sincere compassion for other people. Evans is the embodiment of the true passion hat Antipodean Manila stands for.
Antipodean Opens New Locations
Capturing more people with more than just coffee, more branches will be opened. Antipodean will be opening its doors soon in the heart of Salcedo Village at Citadines Salcedo, 148 Valero St., Makati on December 2021 and at Ayala Triangle Gardens , Bel-Air, Makati City on March 2022. Mark your calendars!
ADVT
