15 years of great food, but people are obsessed with the glass
After dining at Mesa, the names of the dishes you ordered might eventually slip your mind. The curious shape of the restaurant’s glasses, however, could very well stay with you for a while.
That’s not meant to, in any way, imply that the place’s food isn’t memorable. How else would it have lasted 15 years, and put up 80 stores nationwide, if it weren’t for its unique, delicious interpretations of Filipino favorites, like tinapa rolls wrapped in lettuce, crispy pork belly, and laing two ways?
It’s just that Mesa’s much talked-about—and now, joked about—slanted drinkware have unwittingly become synonymous with Mesa’s name. What started out as a functional novelty item has, in recent years, gone viral on social media, with customers posting TikTok videos of them contorting their mouths, in slapstick fashion, to match the rim of the glass.
“So that’s how you use it,” an amused social media user wrote. But whether you sip from the side, like people in those silly clips, or from the spout-like end, like most do, one thing is certain: The glass—much like the restaurant’s house specialty, the “Crispchon”—is an indispensable part of the Mesa experience.
“It has become a signature of ours,” Eric Dee, COO of Foodee Global Concepts, which operates Mesa, told Lifestyle at the recent contract renewal of brand ambassador Dingdong Dantes.
People call it the “tilting glass” or the “leaning glass of Mesa.” It’s “italicized,” others jest. Some branch managers claim that it was inspired by a cut bamboo. To me, it looks like Michael Jackson doing his iconic “anti-gravity lean” in a performance of “Smooth Criminal.”
But the truth is, the choice of glass design wasn’t really meant to symbolize anything cool, profound, or anything at all. While developing Mesa years back, Dee and his team flew to China to check out different stores and suppliers for dishes, cutlery, and other restaurant essentials.
There since day one
Then lo and behold, they spotted the slanted glass. “We were looking for plates and everything. We spotted that glass and thought it could be an option. Soon, we were like, ‘Okay, let’s go for it. It’s quirky, it’s kind of fun… Let’s just see how it goes,’” Dee recalled. “We had no idea it would have such an effect. But wow, it did!”
The glass has been part of the Mesa table since day one. And while it has always sparked fascination among people, especially first-time visitors, it wasn’t until the rise of short-form content that it became a trending topic and challenge. The most popular was started by one @kinomarinay, whose original TikTok video has amassed 10.3 million views since its posting last May.
“Someone sent me a message that our glass was going viral. We have had it since the beginning, but it took this long before it really became a thing. I guess that’s social media for you. But it [virality] wasn’t something in our minds. We weren’t thinking, ‘Ah, gusto namin tabingi para mapag-usapan kami,’” Dee said. “But sometimes, things like this can happen when you least expect it.”
“It’s brilliant… a work of art!” Dantes jokingly told Lifestyle after the event, which was also attended by Foodee founder and CEO Enrico Dee.
Browsing online stores, you will see glasses with similar designs for sale. But the ones with the exact dimensions and makeup as those used at Mesa aren’t readily available or used by other restaurateurs here in the Philippines, according to Dee. “Yeah, it’s ours lang,” he said.
In fact, when he was told by his supplier that stocks of the said glass were nearing depletion, he balked at the prospect of having to give it up. “We were like, ‘No, we need them! It’s our signature. We can’t not have them,’” he related.
Details matter
But what if by some chance someone else gets a hold of those glasses? “Kapag ginaya nila, eh ‘di gaya-gaya na lang sila!” Dee said, laughing. “As a restaurateur, I don’t want to copy. You want to be leading, at the forefront… not copying.”
The unexpected novelty surrounding the glass only reinforced what Dee knew all along: Small details can have a big impact. While the item isn’t directly food-related, there’s something to be said about brand recall. And this glass makes for a surefire conversation starter.
Upon being seated at a restaurant, water is usually served first. And when it arrives in such a peculiar vessel, it will get people talking, like that instance my lola thought she was having trouble with her vision after coming face-to-face with Mesa’s glasses for the first time. And once assured that her eyes weren’t playing tricks on her, she proceeded to question the soundness of the glass’ form. “‘Di ba tatapon?’” she wondered.
“See, it’s all about recall, right?” Dee said. “Sometimes, when you mention Mesa, the first thing that comes to people’s minds is, “‘Yung may baso na ganun. They won’t even remember the food. But it’s still important. It’s not a selling point per se, but it’s something unique, something that’s truly yours… You always have to have a talking point.”
He went on to apply that morsel of wisdom in conceptualizing the company’s other restaurants, too. “That’s why every time we create or bring in a new concept, we figure out a way to come up with an item that can be uniquely ours,” pointed out Dee, who’s also in charge of Foodee’s other brands, like Tim Ho Wan, Kam’s Roast, Hawker Chan, and Llaollao.
Road to 100
“Reaching 100 stores will be a milestone for us. It’s like our report card that reflects the hard work we have put into the brand. But it’s not the end. Maybe we can go for 120? 150? Who knows?” Dee said.
Helping Mesa reach that goal is Dantes, who announced that he will be the franchise owner of store No. 88, which the actor hopes to build somewhere near his daughter Zia’s school. That way, he and his wife, Marian Rivera, will have somewhere to hang out as they wait for their child’s dismissal or have a place to hold business meetings and entertain guests.
And hopefully, he said, his branch could carry Rivera’s recipes, perhaps her special menudo. “This has been years in the making,” said Dantes, whom Dee described as a “perfect representation” of Mesa—“humble, wholesome, a family man.”
Along with expansion comes evolution. The newly opened store, as well as the recently renovated ones, Dee said, now follow a design concept that looks brighter and feels lighter, with pale woods and touches of moss and sea green. Traditional design elements and materials like solihiya weaves can still be observed but are used in noticeably more modern ways.
“We also want to make the experience feel younger, so instead of playing only classic OPM songs, we now play lo-fi and other new music,” Dee said. “We want things to be more hip, younger, brighter. And the design reflects those things.”
The menu is always being updated, too, with new creations being introduced and slow-moving items being pulled out. But there are some things that aren’t going anywhere, like the best-selling crunchy pork sisig and baby squid in olive oil.
And the glasses? “Those will stay—forever!” Dee said, laughing.
