MANILA - The late Engracia Cruz Reyes treated her employees as family. This, her heirs said, was the recipe for success of the 80-year-old Aristocrat restaurant chain, which set the standard for chicken barbecue.

The sweet, lightly charred chicken skewers served with steaming java rice and peanut sauce are a staple of family gatherings, especially in its branch fronting Manila Bay, where "Lola Asiang" set up a rolling store decades ago.

"I think her relationship with her employees and how she treated them...that's her biggest asset," said her granddaughter, Aristocrat Group of Companies president Priscila Reyes-Pacheco.

Lola Asiang grew her extended family with vendors whom she later recruited to join her business, Reyes-Pacheco said.

"She was very concerned. She was very personal. You have to be concerned with your employees," she said, adding some current employees have been with the company for two decades.

The third generation boss said her grandmother was a "fusionist," blazing the trail in mixing cuisines, which eventually led to the creation of its signature chicken barbecue.

Reyes-Pacheco, a grandmother, keeps her iPads and iPhones within reach so she can manage the business even while on the road.

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