The drama behind Diet Diva

SPARKUP: The drama unfolds when Diet Diva founder Kakki Teodoro, theater extraordinaire and TV personality, got caught in a quandary of epic proportions. During a fitting for a show, Ms. Teodoro stood in front of the dressing room mirror with a questioning look. Tucking in her tummy and sucking in her cheeks, she glared at the big fat truth staring her in the eye.

DIET DIVA: I gained 20 pounds.

(Camera zooms in to a two‑floor residence in the neighborhood near Maginhawa Street, Quezon City. Parked outside the house are rows of motorcycles with large insulated boxes labeled with Diet Diva, now an award‑winning household name in food delivery.)

SPARKUP: How did you recognize the business opportunity when you couldn’t fit in your costume?

DIET DIVA: What I realized is with everything I was doing, I would resort to fast food or food delivery that was unhealthy, and the only existing food delivery service at that time was Rachel Alejandro’s The Sexy Chef, which I really couldn’t afford.

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So the following day, I was on my way to a shoot in Ilocos. Through the long 16‑hour trip, I couldn’t sleep. That was when the whole concept was formed. I texted my nutritionist‑dietician friend Clark Francis Dela Riva, who is also a theater and stage performer, and asked him to help. He said that the simplest and cheapest method is portion and calorie control, which a lot of people don’t realize is actually very easy to do.

My mom, who retired from a pharmaceutical business, was then in the catering business and I asked, “Can you cook for me? I’ll pay for my baon.” She offered, “Your friends might want to join so that we can make the most of the ingredients.” I easily gathered 10 friends—high school friends, their officemates! On the second day, we already got bookings and inquiries and more than doubled our volume. That was the point where I talked to Clark seriously: can we make this meal plan calorie and portion control for everyone?

(The camera moves inside the commissary, where the focal point is a dining area where Ms. Teodoro now sits, surrounded by framed portraits of fresh, healthy food. While the house has the feel of a typical home, what sets it apart from the rest of the residences in that upper middle class community is its professional‑grade, restaurant‑style kitchen: a tall, stainless steel station, and a small office, where a staff of 20+ cater to the diet needs of 280 clients across Metro Manila.)

SPARKUP: What’s it like behind the scenes?

DIET DIVA: Food prep starts at 2 or 3 p.m. Ingredients are cut, and the hot kitchen will start at 6 p.m. and will run until 9 p.m. The goal is always to finish by 9 p.m. We’ll cool and then chill the food. By then, the night shift folks arrive. They pack until 2 or 3 a.m. then take out the meals and group them per client. After that, they review, then bring the meals inside the insulation boxes. Riders are not allowed in the kitchen.

SPARKUP: Did it take some time before you figured out that this workflow would, in fact, work?

DIET DIVA: During that first week, when it was still just my mom and I, we followed a call center schedule: we started at 12 m.n. Sometimes, we’d end at 4:30 a.m. and by then, we were flustered. I would pack, mom would drive, then I would go down to each house. We braved the rush hour traffic through Quezon City, Pasig, and Makati until 8 a.m. We would sleep and then wake up to do groceries. What I didn’t foresee then was that I would be responding to inquiries, and also had to ask people how the food was. Then at the same time, I was also setting up our Facebook page. By the third day, we already decided to get a rider. By the second week, we had two riders. It took months for us to figure out how to streamline handling the food and packing more efficiently. We also had to change the box and put insulators, and make sure to cut the delivery time to a maximum of four hours. We also made it a rule to deliver directly to the customer, not leave the packed meals to the guard or at the office lobby. The more people handle the food, the more we couldn’t guarantee the quality. It took around two years for some semblance of stability in our workflow. For those years, I survived on naps.

As all this was happening, I was in TV and theater. I was in Meralco Theater, I was the lead in 2013 or 2014. Instead of resting backstage, every break, I would get the Diet Diva cellphone because I needed to get to my clients. My performance was affected. I barely got any sleep and then I had to sing—my voice was hoarse. As the business grew, I also learned to let go little by little. When you’re so passionate about your baby, you have the tendency to micromanage. You have to train yourself to leave it to your staff and trust them that they can handle it.

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SPARKUP: Was there also drama involving people outside Diet Diva?

DIET DIVA: After we soft opened in September, we secured all our permits and finished all our paperwork, and were ready to bring our service to the wider public. It was really my goal to do it right because we’re dealing with healthy food. We had to have all the sanitary permits, etc.

By the end of December, I started hearing about other diet delivery services that copied our business model. There is one particular brand. The chef who started it, we worked with him for a time, so I was super hurt but I charged to experience the importance of non‑disclosure agreements. I guess the other companies worked also because they would accept our fallouts, or those that didn’t make it to our cut‑off. I was hurt because the whole thing, I, my mom and Clark were the ones who figured it out: calorie count, five days a week, three meals a day, one snack, delivery time. I went on the internet and Googled “How do you deal with people who stole your idea.” But in the end, you just have to accept that when a business idea is good, people will copy.

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SPARKUP: How about The Sexy Chef, did Ms. Alejandro consider you as a rival?

DIET DIVA: For The Sexy Chef, she wasn’t my rival because they do South Beach. So if I get inquiries for South Beach, I would refer them to Sexy Chef. Idealistic, fine, but I think that’s how you should deal with it in the industry. Walang nakawan, walang bastusan. It’s still the same market of people who want to change their lives and be healthy. I won’t compete. We’re aiming for the same goal after all. We’d still see each other in events.

SPARKUP: How did you market Diet Diva?

DIET DIVA: It’s very personal. We still rely on word of mouth. Now, virtually, there’s social media. We have influencers. We still find that it’s our biggest marketing tool: testimonies. It will really be people who liked the food and lost weight. Everything else, like Facebook boosted posts, is just support. It’s a combination of technology and people.

SPARKUP: Do the unhealthy food trends threaten you?

DIET DIVA: I believe in balance. If there are food parks, they will eat. When they feel like they’ve been living an unhealthy life, then we step in. For some people, it’s Diet Diva during weekdays, cheating on weekends. It’s the food industry e. It’s a blessing that Filipinos like to eat and like to explore. If Filipinos were innately healthy to begin with, we wouldn’t be in the business.

(DIET DIVA stands up and shows off her memorabilia from working with Hong Kong Disneyland, Repertory Philippines, TRUMPETS, PETA—playbills and posters that show the Diva sans the Diet.)

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SPARKUP: Having been a theater actress all your life what lessons from theater do you apply in business?

DIET DIVA: The “Yes, and…” approach in improv. In theater, you’re taught to respond to anything. Be ready, accept, and move on. For example, a rider meets an accident. The consequence will be the client will complain because the food is late. “Yes, and…” dictates that we acknowledge, accept that, “okay, yes this happened,” and then think,“now what?” When you’re given a role, you accept it and move on with the scene. You have to be quick. But the kind of response always has to be a yes.

(Fade to black. The end.)