WITH THE launch of the Catering eXchange business-to-business e-commerce site at www.cateringx.com, the Philippines now has the world's first operational exchange for the catering industry and the first working exchange of any kind in the Asia Pacific.

An exchange is an online marketplace focused on a specific industry, such as automobiles. Instead of the traditional supply chain where companies deal with each other one at a time, an exchange brings together global buyers and sellers and allows them to make multiple transactions in real time while eliminating inefficiency.

The first dotcom firm to come out of the Lucio Tan group of companies, CateringX Inc. partnered with Oracle Corp. and Arthur Andersen. According to the project's proponent, Lucio K. Tan Jr., the exchange leverages on the strength of the diverse businesses of the Lucio Tan conglomerate, including the catering requirements of the country's flagship carrier Philippine Air Lines, which his father also owns.

Asked, however, how CateringX would successfully create an image of quality service when some of the group's companies like PAL suffer from a negative public perception, CateringX Inc. chief operating officer Daniel Roman Pido replied: "Among the Lucio Tan group of companies, we are only addressing the catering needs of PAL. We are not responsible for flight delays."

"To add to that, I think PAL has changed its image from 'Plane Always Late' to 'Prompt At Last.' I think with Catering eXchange, we would also improve the quality of the catering service for PAL," Tan said.

Oracle Systems Philippines managing director Bernard Yu added that by turning to global partners like Oracle and Arthur Andersen, CateringX is displaying its seriousness in providing world-class service. Yu also said that the idea of a catering exchange attracted Oracle.

"The big vendors aren't focusing on a food exchange. We were interested because here's a market where we could excel as Filipinos. We love to eat," Yu quipped.

While CateringX aims to be an end-to-end solution for the catering industry, from sourcing of food and freight delivery, the system does not yet have an online payment facility. CateringX is tapping sister company Allied Bank for this purpose.

In a later interview, Tan acknowledged that the Lucio Tan group of companies still suffers from a negative public image, particularly PAL.

Asked how the conglomerate would reinvent itself for the Internet age, he said that this would be a slow process of improvement with the increasing use of IT solutions.

"First we start with CateringX. If we have better food quality and delivery, then maybe more people would realize that PAL has improved. We would also be introducing IT solutions for our other companies. It will also help PAL in the long run if maybe we already have an online reservation system," he said.

According to him, the conglomerate would also come out with other IT ventures.

"This is probably the first (IT) company that would come out. We are right now in the planning stages for other IT businesses related to our companies," Tan said.

And what of the hyped, albeit non-operational exchange of the six conglomerates-Ayala Corp., PLDT, Aboitiz, JG Summit, Benpres Holdings and United Laboratories? Why isn't the Lucio Tan group of companies part of this?