HOY! Welcome to our Filipino home / A private proposal for Leo

Born in Fitzroy. Rooted in the Philippines.

From
Melbourne
to Makati.

A Filipino home with room to grow, beginning in Melbourne and ideally continuing in Makati.

An exploratory invitation for Leo: preserve and strengthen Palay’s Melbourne home where feasible, build its next chapter in Makati, and selectively create future hospitality brands together.

Explore the opportunity ↓

01 Melbourne mother brand02 35–50-seat Makati concept03 Multiple revenue channels04 Staged, independently assessed investment

00 / A note from the founder

Why I build.
Why I keep going.

The person behind the brand, and the commercial discipline that must now sit alongside ambition.

I have never seen hospitality as simply opening a restaurant. For me, it is a way to create something that remains after I am gone.

Both of my parents facing cancer changed how quickly I had to grow up. I began leading kitchens at 20, learning that skill matters, but so do systems, speed, training and understanding where effort creates value.

Experiencing a temporary heart condition later in life made mortality feel less abstract. It sharpened a question I had been carrying for years: what would I leave behind if I never had the chance to build again?

My ambition is personal, but it is also practical. I want to create durable brands, build opportunities for people around me and put myself in a position to retire by 40 without leaving the businesses dependent on me working every shift.

Opening Palay taught me that creativity and revenue alone do not protect a company from poor capital structure, excessive debt or insufficient reserves. I will not pretend otherwise. Those lessons are why the next version must be founded on accurate reporting, paid leadership, cash discipline and properly funded growth.

What I am asking Leo to consider is not a bet on my optimism. It is the chance to assess whether my experience, existing brand, relationships and future pipeline can become a serious, well-governed business partnership.

Chef Fhred Batalona Founder · Palay / Barangay / Bohrat / Kultura in Motion

The investment thesis

Preserve the origin.
Build the next chapter.

The opportunity is not to fund historical losses indefinitely. It is to test whether recapitalisation can create a sustainable operating business in Melbourne and a commercially sound new one in Makati.

Existing identity

Palay began in Melbourne, developing regional Filipino cooking within Australia's restaurant landscape. Its brand, recipes, operating experience and hospitality relationships provide a starting point that a new concept would not have.

Untapped utilisation

One existing Melbourne property could support restaurant dining, carefully costed catering, selected events and a measured daytime concept. The question is whether these activities generate real contribution after all incremental costs.

Cross-market potential

A Makati flagship could express Palay's Filipino-Australian identity through regional dishes, Melbourne café culture and selective Australian ingredients, with each market maintaining separate financial accountability.

The two-market thesis

Keep the home.
Grow the story.

Makati will be more compelling because the Palay story began in a real Melbourne restaurant, not on a pitch slide.

Our Australian chapter has built dishes, systems, a guest following and relationships. If the business can be responsibly recapitalised, it becomes the mother brand, development kitchen and proof point behind the Philippines expansion.

The recovery is not assumed. It must be tested against actual costs, arrears, capital requirements and viable trading forecasts. The Philippine investment will be assessed separately.

PALAY
MELBOURNE

MAKATI → WHAT'S NEXT

01A real originThe Fitzroy blue door, heritage home and established culinary identity

02A shared operating playbookMenus, procurement, training and systems tested in Melbourne

03More revenue possibilitiesDining, catering, daytime trade and international collaborations

01 / Mother brand

Palay Australia.

An established operation with real trading history and a critical financial restructuring question.

$377.7kReported Lightspeed revenue · rolling 10-month filter

6,460Reported guests · same selected period

$59.37Reported average guest spend

$59.6kFeed Me Tito reported product sales

Data quality note: Figures are taken from the Lightspeed Insights screenshots supplied in October 2026; the dashboard was set to “last 10 months,” not an exact financial-year date range. They are tax-inclusive, unreconciled, and may exclude sales collected outside Lightspeed. They are not profit or a complete consolidated revenue total.

Visible sales mix

Reported product reporting groups for the same rolling period

Food

$183,682

Uncategorised

$132,542

Beverages

$60,966

Retail

$517

Uncategorised sales are believed by management to comprise food and beverage. This classification is pending verification.

Additional activity identified outside the POS

Source	Preliminary evidence
Stripe	$19,294.44 across 50 payout notices (Jan–Oct 2026)
Gathar	$3,166.47 in identified payouts from two completed events
Barangay wedding	$4,991.50 revised invoice for September event; payment correspondence found

Do not add these figures to Lightspeed yet. Stripe payouts are net settlement notices, not gross sales, and duplicates or timing differences must be reconciled with bank and accounting records.

Recovery reality

The challenge is capital structure and operating discipline.

Legacy obligations, including finance facilities, rent arrears, employee entitlements and tax liabilities, compete with the cash needed for current trading. Current viability must be tested after allowing for real payroll, occupancy, purchasing, utilities and tax costs.

Independent assessment required

Australian operational position

Palay Australia is navigating significant financial and cashflow pressures. We are evaluating a structured recovery strategy focused on historical obligations, sustainable trading and the capital required to retain the original Melbourne operation. No recovery, financing or creditor arrangement has yet been secured. Existing director and creditor obligations require independent professional advice before any investment proceeds.

02 / Operating strategy

One Melbourne site.
Multiple ways to earn.

PALAY

Restaurant & functions

Regional Filipino dining, a deliberately profitable core menu, set menus, private bookings and intimate events. Strengthen guest conversion and make food, beverage and labour performance measurable.

Existing operation

BARANGAY

Catering & experiences

Standardised packages for corporate lunches, weddings, Boodle experiences and events, supported by clear quoting, costing, sales follow-up and logistics. Scale only when bookings produce sufficient contribution.

Existing brand · limited historical utilisation

BOHRAT

Daytime trade

A focused Filipino-Australian breakfast and coffee offering, using overlapping ingredients and existing infrastructure. Expand service days against measured margins, not assumptions.

Concept / staged trading assessment

What must change operationally

Financial visibility

Reconcile Lightspeed, Stripe, catering invoices, bank receipts and Xero; establish monthly P&L, weekly cashflow and a reliable creditor register.

Profit by service line

Cost menu items and packages fully; track incremental labour, ingredient costs, delivery, transport, equipment and fees.

Management capacity

Budget for paid founder work, properly compensated Melbourne management and professional finance oversight.

The principle

“Growth must create cash, not just more work.”

Revenue alone cannot validate the recovery. Each new line must demonstrate a margin after all direct and incremental costs; the parent operation must remain sustainable without recurring rescue funding.

03 / Philippine flagship

Makati, by design.
Not by excess.

45-seat planning baseline

A 35–50-seat Filipino-Australian restaurant translating Palay's Melbourne character into the Philippines. Premium and warm, not oversized for the sake of a flagship.

Seats

Flexible two- and four-person tables, small groups, and limited private dining configuration.

Breakfast

Melbourne café culture meets silogs, sisig Benedict, tortang talong and regional breakfast ideas.

Regional dining

Filipino regional cooking remains the culinary centre; thoughtful sharing plates and signature dishes.

AU × PH

Ingredient dialogue

Selective Australian beef, Philippine produce, proposed specialty coffee collaboration with First Harvest and proposed T2 tea program.

What carries across

Melbourne hospitality DNA, trusted dishes, brand identity, service principles and a distinctive culinary point of view.

What belongs to Makati

Locally informed pricing, site selection, regional sourcing, Filipino hiring, daypart strategy, and operationally sound market adaptation.

01 / The building

Find a heritage house with Palay's soul.

Prioritise a characterful older Makati building with warm timber, original architectural details, a welcoming street presence and an intimate residential feel. Restore with restraint: the building should feel like it has a history, not like a newly themed restaurant.

Target: approximately 180–220 m² usable floor area; 40–50 seats with a 45-seat planning base. Search heritage-style sites around Poblacion, the fringes of Salcedo and Legazpi, and other suitable parts of Makati. Site availability and commercial use must be verified.

Site must pass diligence for kitchen extraction, grease-trap drainage, power, fire egress, accessibility, sound, alcohol service, licensing and safe changes to older structures. Heritage or conservation restrictions may limit alterations.

02 / The experience

An open kitchen, a seat at the pass, a real bar.

A visible hot line and kitchen pass connect dining with craft. Reserve six tables near the open kitchen for a chef-led Feed Me experience: part of the 45-seat inventory, not six extra tables.

An Australian-Filipino bar showcases Palay's house cocktails alongside Filipino spirits and ingredients, a selected Australian gin program (including Four Pillars if local distribution and supply are confirmed), and curated Australian wines. Filipino hospitality remains the organising principle.

Indicative layout split: 40% dining and chef's section; 16% bar/entry; 26% visible kitchen and prep; 18% storage, wash-up, toilets and circulation. An architect must test the actual footprint.

Illustrative guest journey · not an architectural drawing

Heritage arrival + flexible diningOriginal details, shared dining, roughly 25–30 seats

Australian × Filipino barSignature cocktails, Australian wines and gin, Filipino drinks

Open pass · chef's sectionSix intimate Feed Me tables, within total capacity

Working kitchen + supportHot line, prep, cold storage, dishwash, extraction and back-of-house

The chef's section could use two-person tables with flexible joining for groups. Seating, circulation and safe separation from the kitchen will be confirmed during site planning.

A Melbourne menu with a Philippine heartbeat

Familiar signatures. Deeper regional discovery.

Keep the breadth of Palay Melbourne's menu broadly consistent, rather than doubling the dish count: a disciplined core of signature plates, skewers, sharing dishes, desserts and set menus, supplemented by four to six rotating regional specials based on season and supplier availability.

Palay signatures

Kinilaw sa Gata, Pork Sisig, Crispy Pata, Chicken Inasal, Dinakdakan and other dishes carried across after recipe and pricing validation.

Regional chapter

Seasonal exploration of Mindanao, Visayas and Luzon dishes: Piaparan, Tiyula Itum and other underrepresented regional traditions, developed respectfully with local cooks and suppliers.

Morning to evening

Filipino breakfast and Melbourne-style café hospitality by day; sharing plates, Feed Me chef's dining, cocktails and Australian wines by evening.

04 / Makati investment model

Purpose-built.
Not overbuilt.

A first-pass opening budget for an approximately 200 m², 45-seat, heritage-style Filipino-Australian restaurant. The goal is enough capital to open well and operate responsibly.

Base-case planning envelope

₱20.0m

Philippine pesos · illustrative capital budget, not a contractor quote

₱16–25mWorking range

45 seats40–50 seat objective

200 m²180–220 m² target

Where ₱20 million goes

Planning allowance	PHP
Lease deposits, advance rent and site due diligence	₱1,600,000
Heritage-sensitive fit-out, kitchen services and interiors	₱7,000,000
Cooking line, refrigeration, bar, coffee equipment and smallwares	₱2,400,000
Architect, engineers, compliance, professional services	₱1,000,000
Furniture, tableware, POS and opening systems	₱800,000
Recruitment, training, menu testing and launch stock	₱700,000
Working capital and early-trading reserve	₱4,500,000
Construction and opening contingency	₱2,000,000
Total illustrative capital requirement	₱20,000,000

The reserve is a liquidity buffer, not a promise of six months of fully funded expenses. Cost allocations are founder/adviser planning assumptions pending Makati property, supplier and construction quotations. Heritage structural repairs, major kitchen extraction, generator and utility upgrades can materially increase cost.

What will drive the economics

Assume monthly rent of ₱250,000–400,000 pending lease quotations. A Salcedo Village restaurant listing advertises ₱2,000/m² per month plus VAT and common-area costs, which would equate to around ₱400,000 base rent for 200 m² at that particular asking rate; a heritage house will have different economics.

Illustrative trading hurdle

At an average customer spend of ₱1,300 including VAT, reaching ₱2.4m in monthly sales requires about 71 customer visits a day across 26 trading days. This implies multiple services and meaningful weekday demand; 45 seats alone do not guarantee it.

The economics are not a break-even claim. We still need actual staffing rosters, menu food cost, beverage margin, rent, taxes and utilities to calculate break-even and investor returns.

Decision rule: Do not sign a property lease or finalise the investment request until an architect, contractor and kitchen consultant have confirmed heritage, fire, ventilation and utility requirements.

Lean acquisition

₱16–18m: existing fitted restaurant or light refurbishment, low structural intervention and careful equipment reuse. Harder to achieve with a true heritage property.

Recommended planning base

₱20m: characterful site, open kitchen, chef's section, premium bar and a protected operating reserve, subject to competitive contractor quotes.

Complex heritage site

₱23–25m+: substantial restoration, HVAC and extraction upgrades, preservation conditions or premium high-rent location. A ₱30m outcome remains possible for a more demanding project.

Public benchmarks and limitations: Arcadis building/restaurant fit-out benchmarks reported by Estimation QS (fine-dining restaurant: ~₱67k–129k/m²); CBRE Philippines 2025 Fit-Out Guide (general project budgeting context); Salcedo Village restaurant lease asking rate (₱2,000/m² monthly plus additional charges); Philippines Board of Investments 2026 Cost of Doing Business (general 12% VAT guidance). Benchmarks are not heritage-project quotes and are not directly interchangeable. All planning figures require local professional validation.

Illustrative operating model · not forecast

What would commercially viable trading need to look like?

For a 45-seat restaurant trading 26 days monthly, at a blended spend of ₱1,250 per guest, reaching ₱2.4m monthly gross sales would require approximately 74 paid guest visits a day across breakfast, lunch, dinner and chef-led dining. This is a target to validate against real market demand, not a booked-sales estimate.

Monthly sales illustration₱2.40m

Direct variable costs assumption (36%)(₱864k)

Fixed payroll, occupancy & operations assumption(₱1.15m)

Illustrative monthly operating surplus₱386k

Assumes cash sales net of no adjustments; percentages and fixed costs are unverified placeholders. Operating surplus is before depreciation, financing, tax, owner distributions and certain pre-opening amortisation. Salary for local management and working founder duties must be budgeted within payroll; this is not a reliable EBITDA forecast until all costs are sourced and tax treatments reconciled. Under these assumptions operating break-even is approximately ₱1.80m/month, or 56 guests/day at ₱1,250; no assumption of stable demand or full seating is made.

External anchors for further costing: Arcadis Philippines Construction Cost Handbook 2025 lists restaurant fit-outs at ₱33k–53k/m² (general) and ₱67k–129k/m² (fine dining), excluding substantial kitchen equipment and other costs. DOLE’s September 2026 NCR wage update states ₱755/day for non-agricultural minimum wage workers. Site lease and heritage restoration quotes are still outstanding.

05 / Beyond the restaurants

A platform with
more than one door.

The long-term thesis extends beyond hospitality venues, but optionality is not a substitute for the core businesses' profitability.

Kultura in Motion

Culture travels through food, people and place.

A creative and collaboration platform spanning chef activations, food, beverage, fashion, hospitality storytelling and cross-border brand partnerships. Its past work offers evidence of founder execution and relationships; forecast income must be based on separately contracted opportunities.

Future development pipeline

More concepts, selectively.

Potential future hospitality brands may be developed with Leo under separately approved business plans. The founder's Melbourne network may enable introductions to other operators, including Falco and Above Board, only with their owners' permission.

Neither Falco nor Above Board is presented as available for investment, licensed for expansion or affiliated with this proposal.

06 / Investment framework

One opportunity.
Different ways to participate.

No investment amount, valuation, equity percentage, return or ownership structure has been agreed. The objective is to find the approach that stands up to independent financial and legal diligence.

Australia recovery capital

Verified creditor settlements and arrears plan, employee entitlements, operating reserves, properly paid management and measured investments in sales capacity. Recovery must be independently shown to be financially and legally viable.

Philippines launch capital

Separate Makati capital budget covering site, fit-out, equipment, local compliance, opening inventory, recruitment, pre-opening work and runway. Stage funding against milestones and documented governance.

Capital priority order

Establish liabilities

Full and current creditor, payroll, superannuation, taxation, lease and equipment-finance positions.

Test the viable business

Historical margin and conservative operating forecasts, with realistic founder and management salaries.

Fund with a reserve

Any proposed investment must leave enough runway after legitimate settlements and essential commitments.

Investor protections to discuss

Separate Australian and Philippine reporting
Documented governance and reserved decisions
Capital uses and milestone-based releases
Monthly management accounts and KPI reporting
Founder responsibilities and paid compensation
Clearly defined IP rights and licence arrangements
Legal and tax review across both jurisdictions
Exit, dilution and future funding provisions

07 / Path to an investment decision

An opportunity worth
examining properly.

Financial due diligence

Lightspeed daily sales export, January–October 2026
Stripe charges, refunds, payout and fee reports
Barangay invoices, Gathar settlements and bank matches
Xero P&L, balance sheet and BAS reconciliation
Wages, superannuation, tax and creditor register
Lease terms, rent arrears and equipment settlement figures
13-week cashflow, contingency analysis and 2027 forecasts

Commercial due diligence

Makati premises shortlist and site-specific budgets
Regional menu engineering and supplier quotations
Staffing, management and founder travel plans
Brand, IP and cross-border ownership review
Conservative, base and upside demand scenarios
Philippine legal, tax and operational compliance
Investor objectives, risk appetite and preferred involvement

Founder commitment

Build a business that can pay its people, pay its founder and earn the right to grow.

Proposed first conversation with Leo

Phase one is a joint evaluation of the two-market opportunity and a preliminary Philippine opening envelope of ₱20 million. Phase two is site feasibility, a complete financial data room and adviser-led review of the Australian recovery case. Only then would the parties agree commercial terms, staged capital contributions and governance.

Palay Australia faces material creditor and liquidity pressures. The viability of retaining the Melbourne operation requires independent evaluation, and the option of an orderly wind-down remains under consideration. The financial position, obligations and material risks will be disclosed in detail as part of a confidential investor due-diligence process. An exploratory discussion does not secure continued operations.

08 / A possible long-term partnership

More than a restaurant.
A way to build together.

Leo’s interest in diversifying beyond an established family business may align with an entrepreneur who creates concepts and can assemble operating teams. Each investment stands on its own merits.

Establish the anchor

Evaluate the Australian mother brand and the Makati flagship as two separately capitalised opportunities, with clear ring-fencing, independent budgets and milestones.

Build repeatable capability

Standardise menu engineering, training, financial reporting, brand development, location feasibility, hiring and launch operations so growth can be executed with less founder dependence.

Assess future concepts

Offer Leo the possibility of evaluating future opportunities developed by Fhred, including additional food, beverage and hospitality brands. No automatic ownership or exclusive rights are assumed.

Potential collaboration beyond Palay

Fhred’s Australian hospitality network may create introductions to other independent operators and concepts, including Manu’s connections with Falco and Above Board. Their inclusion here is exploratory only; no owner approval, rights, franchise availability or investment offering is implied.

What a partner could bring

Appropriately sized capital, financial oversight, commercial networks, property and development experience, governance, and an investment horizon aligned with long-term brand building. The precise role is for both parties to discuss.

THE INVITATION

Leo, if this resonates, I’d love to discuss how we could build this together.

This proposal is designed to open the conversation. If the opportunity is of interest, the next step would be a detailed discussion of the Australian recovery case, Makati feasibility, capital structure and what a long-term partnership could look like for both of us.

Start a conversation →