When people hear the origin story of Lots’a Pizza, they often focus on the food. But according to co-founder Teresita Ngan Tian, the real advantage behind their early success had nothing to do with pizza at all.
It was accounting.
“Both of us were accountants,” Teresita says. “That shaped how we looked at risk, cash flow, and decisions—even before we thought of ourselves as entrepreneurs.”
Before Lots’a Pizza existed, Teresita and her husband Ed built their careers at SGV as auditors. Numbers, controls, and projections were part of daily life. When they eventually stumbled into business, those skills quietly became their foundation.
Why Numbers Came Before the Product
The idea to lease space along Mendiola did not begin with a menu. It began with feasibility.
“Since we were both accountants, we presented a feasibility study,” Teresita explains. “We had to show the revenue stream for the next five years.”
At the time, the Benedictine community needed funds to support 35 postulants studying for the priesthood. The proposal had to make sense financially—not just optimistically.
“They didn’t agree because it sounded exciting,” she says. “They agreed because the numbers showed it could work.”
For Teresita, this step mattered more than passion.
“Business ideas are easy. Making sure they can survive is the hard part.”
Starting With Structure, Not Scale
When they leased the 75-square-meter space, Teresita approached it the way an accountant would—by breaking it down.
“Hinati namin siya into stalls,” she says. “Six square meters each.”
The plan was conservative. Operate one stall, sublease the rest, and limit risk.
“I wasn’t thinking of expansion yet,” she says. “I was thinking of sustainability.”
But when subleasing didn’t work out, discipline replaced ideal assumptions.
“Walang takers, so I had to fill the space myself,” she explains. “That meant adding products—not because it was exciting, but because the space had to generate revenue.”
Cash Flow Over Creativity
Unlike many first-time founders, Teresita didn’t romanticize experimentation.
“Every product we added had to justify itself,” she says. “If it didn’t sell, it didn’t stay.”
Their accounting background shaped daily decisions.
“We were very aware of costs—ingredients, labor, wastage,” she explains. “Even before we had a brand, we were already managing margins.”
That discipline kept the business grounded.
“You can’t grow if you don’t know where the money is going.”
Why Financial Skills Build Credibility
When Lots’a Pizza began applying to malls, they faced a new challenge.
“They asked, ‘What is your brand? What is your specialty?’” Teresita says.
But behind those branding questions was another layer—credibility.
“Malls want to know if you can sustain operations,” she explains. “That’s where financial discipline matters.”
Being able to present numbers, projections, and controls helped them move forward.
“Even if the product was still evolving, we could show that we understood the business side.”
Learning the Industry Without Losing Control
Teresita is candid about what they didn’t know.
“We didn’t know anything about pizza at first,” she says.
But not knowing the product did not mean abandoning structure.
“I studied how to make the components, but I always looked at cost and consistency,” she explains. “Learning doesn’t mean being careless.”
Even experimentation had limits.
“We tested, we observed, and we adjusted—but we always watched the numbers.”
Why ‘Unsexy’ Skills Matter
Looking back, Teresita believes their accounting background protected them from common startup mistakes.
“We didn’t overspend early. We didn’t assume demand. We didn’t scale blindly.”
She sees this as an overlooked lesson for aspiring entrepreneurs.
“People think business success comes from bold ideas,” she says. “But many businesses fail because they ignore fundamentals.”
Accounting, she adds, gave them patience.
“We were comfortable growing slowly—as long as it was stable.”
The Takeaway
Lots’a Pizza did not succeed because its founders were food experts. It succeeded because they brought discipline into an unfamiliar industry.
“You don’t need to come from the same industry,” Teresita says. “What matters is whether you bring skills that help the business survive.”
For her, entrepreneurship was never about reinventing herself.
“We didn’t stop being accountants,” she says. “We just applied what we knew in a different way.”
