THESE days, home depots, or one-stop shops for home construction and renovation needs are common. But an entire depot that carries everything you need for the kitchen?
Now, there is one. It’s called Mall of Kitchens (MOK), and it’s located at the corner of Kamagong St. corner Lawaan St., San Antonio Village, Makati City. It’s a huge 2,500-square-meter facility equipped with a 1,000-square-meter store that’s fully stocked with the highest quality kitchen equipment, utensils, foodservice furniture and other merchandise for commercial as well as household use.
A brand under Technolux, one of the country’s largest importers and distributors of a complete line of foodservice, small wares, laundry and cleaning equipment, Mall of Kitchens carries anything from heavy-duty cooking equipment, deep fryers, freezers and ice machines to plates and bowls, glasses, pitchers, cooking pots and pans, scales, mixing bowls, chafing dishes, cake stands, silverware, storage solutions, knives, chairs, and bar and coffee supplies.
Mall of Kitchens began as a 20-square-meter display area under Technolux, then moved to a 400-square-meter showroom, but it was still not enough to showcase the wide array of kitchen products that the company offered. Thus, the idea of opening Mall of Kitchens came about. The store concept has since morphed into a fully-integrated showroom that doubles as a one-stop shop complete with its own test kitchen, where the company’s corporate chefs hold free demos on the proper use of various kitchen equipment as well as other useful food-related topics such as food safety and proper sanitation. It has also become a wonderland for chefs, culinary and baking students and enthusiasts, and homemakers who love to cook and entertain.
“When we opened MOK, there was instant appreciation by our institutional customers like hotels and restaurants. We understood how to sell directly to business establishments, but the concept also had a retail facet to it. So we had to be open to what the everyday market, such as homemakers, home cooks, start-up businesses and foodies, needed. We underwent a process of finding the right formula to keep people interested in MOK, and this is something that we continue to do since we opened in 2012,” explains Jenny Carlos, AVP-Smallwares.
She adds: “What sets us apart from other distributors is that MOK is not only a showroom; it is also a retail store. We have sales agents to service our corporate clients. But our value added offering is that our customers can visit MOK, peruse our products and equipment, and leave the store with their purchases.”
Neatly arranged in racks in the store are pots and pans in varying sizes, colors and materials. Shelves are filled with plates, bowls, glassware, crystals and flatware imported from Europe, the Middle East and China. Dining table set-ups, chairs, furniture, cocktail party set-ups and other showcases give customers new and exciting ideas on how to create their own. There are also kitchenware, kitchen footwear, food and sauce containers. Whatever is needed when it comes to kitchen construction, renovation, repairs or improvement, MOK seems to have it.
To make sure Mall of Kitchens continues to carry the widest assortment of products and the most trusted brands from around the world, management regularly sends its team to different parts of the world to keep abreast with the latest developments in the culinary landscape as well as to explore local destinations to bring our own products together under one roof. No wonder you could get lost for hours in the aisles of Mall of Kitchens and totally enjoy the experience.
(Mall of Kitchens is located at 9703 Kamagong St. corner Lawaan St., San Antonio Village, Makati City; with telephone numbers 890-6758 and 552-3587.)
