Larete , Paolo

Franchising has really gone big in the Philippines. That the Philippines has become known as the franchising hub in this part of the world speaks volumes of how far the business of franchising has grown in the country. So many success stories have been documented and shared by the franchise association, and though not all of them have grown as big as, say, Mang Inasal, some are even more remarkable in that they started ever so humbly and just grew exponentially over the years. One of the Cinderella success stories in local entrepreneurship is Julies Bakeshop which had its roots in Cebu City. Business & Leisure talked with Mr. Bien Topacio, a member of the Gandionco clan which startedJulies Bakeshop and is now the franchise business development manager of Julies, and he traced the humble beginnings of the bakeshop. Julies came into being in 1981. Prior to that, Mrs. Julie Gandionco, the clans matriarch who started it all, toiled hard as a canteen concessionaire of a large factory in Cebu that employed thousands. If you run the canteen of such a huge company serving thousands of hungry employees, one can imagine the volume of cooked food that comes out of Julies kitchen, day in and day out, from morning to afternoon. Even the bread that she served in the canteen accounted for a big volume, such that she had to farm out her daily orders to many small bakeries just to keep us with her daily bread allocation. In one of these bakeries, one of the employees, a baker himself, remarked on how big her volume of daily bread needs was, and shouldnt she just consider putting up her own bake shop instead of giving the business to others? According to Bien, Julie herself loved to cook, which is essentially why she chose the canteen business to start with, but she didnt know a thing about baking. She was hesitant to go into the bakery business , until the baker himself offered: Why dont you just get me to bake for you and you can open your own bake shop? That was in 1981, and Julies Bake Shop opened in Wireless, Mandaue in Cebu. It was an immediate hit, and not too long after, a second branch opened in Urgello St., and the chain of bake shops was well on its way. In 1988, the first Julies Bake Shop opened outside of Cebu, in Iloilo City. All these stores were family-owned, (some with partners) a testament to how hard-working the family was and how the driven matriarch ruled by example. Here was a housewife/mother-turned-businesswoman who did not have fancy educational credits to her name, no masteral or PhDs to speak of, just a lot of perseverance, hard work and good business sense. Thirty two years later, Julies Bake Shop is the largest chain of bake shops in the Philippines. In this country where there is a bake shop in every corner in every community, this is no mean feat.

It was in 1998 that Julies decided to venture into franchising. As Bien says, the company had to move on, they had to step up. They could afford to be passive; they had to be dynamic all the way. Embracing the franchising concept fully, back in the late 90s when the concept had not really caught on with Filipinos,Julies Bake Shop now has 500 stores nationwide, an amazing feat indeed for a lady who didnt even know how to bake when she opened her first bake shop in Mandaue. This country has no dearth of bake shops, and as an American friend commented, how can these neighborhood bake shops earn when there seems to be one in every corner? The first Julies Bake Shop in Cebu was not big Bienrecalls that it must have been around 70 sq. meters which housed the bakery, the sales counter and a small snack area. This set-up continues to be the typical set-up of Julies, and all their stores are located in neighborhoods, which makes a lot of sense because that is precisely their market. Julies positions itself as a neighborhood bakery, and they have shunned the malls to this day. They pioneered the concept of a visible production area where bread is baked fresh on an hourly basis, and this seems to be their best selling proposition. The small snack area is for the neighborhood mainstays who like to eat their bread warm from the oven, no frills of a fancy sandwich with lettuce, just gulped down plainly with a cold drink. That tops the list of the small joys for many folks. Now, Julies has 130 franchises spread over 500 stores across the land. If the math doesnt add up, it is because many of the franchisees have multiple stores, some owning 10 to 15 stores. That is also testament to how viable the business is. They have also stepped up the business even further they have just gone international. The first store outside the Philippines is set to open in the 4th week of September in Tangara, a city just outside Jakarta in Indonesia. They met up with a Filipino businessman there who has been living in Indonesia for 30 years now and is, essentially more Indonesian than Filipino. They are, of course, looking at other Asian countries where there is a large concentration of Filipinos who grew up with Julies breads. In a survey among Filipinos residing abroad, many of them yearned for Julies products and wanted one right in their neighborhood. To be sure, some of Julies bread products will have to be tweaked to cater to the local markets abroad. After all, they are targeting not only the Filipinos living in those countries but the mainstream residents as well. In the meantime, Julies R&D continues to be strong. New products will still have to be developed. Bienalso tells us that, like a good corporate citizen, Julies corporate social responsibility likewise continues to grow through their feeding programs. For them, Julies is more than just baking bread it is baking bread to feed people. Together with their domestic expansion, their global expansion will take hold in the next few years.

Reading the life stories of successful entrepreneurs anywhere in the globe will almost always have that charming element. Building something out of obscurity, the initial success, problems encountered and the person sticking to it trying to overcome the hurdles, (sometimes at the point of giving up), and then an unknown force from somewhere pushes the entrepreneur up slowly and steadily. For some it is the failing in a business or two and then, finding the vein - so to speak- sticks it out and eventually succeeds.For those who succeeded, however modest, there is also always that factor of relentless pushing forward. It is the ability to maintain focus even when faced with hard work and discouragement. I, too, found these tales a little mushy at times, too romanticized and often over stretched until I failed in four businesses big time and found out that the same principles work for me. Whatever your views may be, there is an undeniable over riding characteristic in most entrepreneurs and that is enthusiasm, and the desire to keep on. I don't believe in the Midas touch either, that is bull, a showing off if you will. Aptitude yes, acumen yes, but just the same, every success has a history of hard work behind it, A kind of preparation. This is almost the same everywhere. Even in third world countries where the economy could sometimes be so tangled up. Let us have the Philippines. Successful Filipino entrepreneurs would have done a greater effort here than in many of their counterparts in some places of the world. You may disagree, that is fine. But you see business people thrive on predictability and stability that could result to margins. On the other hand, fluctuating economies would give you a different result. Couple that with a colonial mentality that until today has not yet been totally forgotten and you are in for a sanity check especially when trying to compete with a European or American brand. No way could it work.

But it did. Take for example Tony Tan, a Filipino entrepreneur who started his way, washing the dishes and waiting on tables in his fathers' small restaurant. In 1975, with the help of his family this Filipino acquired an ice cream franchise. Ice cream parlors were popular then and it was supposed to be a decent and proven formula. But like most popular businesses that are copied, the ice cream parlor has eventually to be given up. After a good start, theice cream business failed. Tony Tan has to start all over again this time it was not ice cream but selling hamburgers. He gave the hamburgers his own twist, and with the help of family members, tweaked on other fast food items and that was supposed to be the story of it. Obscure beginnings from a country that was supposed to flock to McDonalds for hamburgers. No one could, in a sane mind, hopes to compete with McDonalds right? Correct. But this successful Filipino entrepreneur is selling today double than that which McDonalds does in the Philippines. Jollibee has, in 25 years expanded to more than 400 branches in the Philippines alone with branches in many parts of the hamburger-loving world. And then there is Antonina Cesario of Mila's Lechon. Lechon for those who wonder is a whole suckling pig roasted over an open pit. A fresh graduate of Pharmacy from the University of Santo Tomas, one of the more prestigious schools in the Philippines, one would wonder what Antonina Cesario was thinking selling lechon at a time (1968) when a college diploma was a decent way to start a more prestigious career. But I am jumping too fast. Antonina started out not even with a lechon but hawking boiled corn in the streets. After a while, she opened what is termed in the Islands as a Sari-Sari Store which are actually holes in the wall stores that are popular in any typical Filipino neighborhood. It was not enough. In the Philippines, there is about one sari-sari store for every 600 population. Just imagine the competition that one is about to go through. And so with a few pesos saved, and with a leap of faith, she bought a pig, made a lechon and sold it. No dice. The lechon did not sell at all. The lechon though is a very popular fare in the Philippines. A feast is never complete without it. So the idea persisted. She did a twist to it, selling it by the kilo. From then on, Filipinos does not have to wait for fiestas and other affairs to have lechon on their tables. They can have it any day they want it. Mila's lechon turned out to be very popular. So popular in fact that the district where Mila's lechon originated is now termed as the lechon capital of the Philippines. The family then started venturing out to other businesses like restaurants and the selling and distribution of sauces that could be found in any supermarket in the Philippines. Many more Filipino entrepreneurs have made it. One that makes it more amazing though is these entrepreneurs could thrive even in very difficult circumstances, even when their nations economies are often in the doldrums. Hard work, preparation, persistence; name it, It varies in different people but sustained enthusiasm counts for most.