Tuxedo meals for office workers

Home Kitchens, Inc. was set up middle of last year because of an observation on what officer workers eat for lunch–they either brown-bag, order from a fastfood outlet, or buy cold lunches wrapped in plastic bags from a nearby vendor.

"The idea was to provide hermetically-sealed meals that are prepared the way your grandmother used to, which could be reheated with a flick of the microwave oven. And because both parents nowadays have to work to make ends meet, there is very little time one can devote to cooking meals, much less gourmet meals," said marketing and sales director Concepcion Cristobal Reynes.

HMK’s initial foray is called Movable Feasts, a selection of Spanish-Filipino meals like paella and pescado served with rice

"We spent between P50,000 and P100,000 on research alone. We did not want to open our kitchen with less than high quality products so we conducted tests and sought assistance from the Department of Science and Technology. They helped us with packaging and developing the products," said Reynes.

Movable Feasts meals have a shelf life of two weeks, if refrigerated, and a shelf life of over two months, if frozen.

Distribution

With an initial capitalization of P5 million, HMK put up a 700-meals-a-day kitchen in Pasig.

The first few months, the kitchen produced only 200 meals a day, using office workers in the nearby Ortigas area to market its products on a consignment basis. Under the set-up, the office insider called in the orders from officemates and placed the delivery in the office refrigerator. After collecting from his/her officemates, the office insider would then deduct his/her margin and remit the balance to HMK.

"Although market response was overwhelming, collection was disheartening," said Reynes. "We decided to change our consignment policy to a 30-day credit line. This way, office insiders still made money from selling our meals without having to put in a single centavo of their money in the business."

The company also widened its reach by using authorized merchants such as 24-hour convenience stores near call centers.

Today, HMK is tapping other markets like schools and ambulant vendors.

"We know we cannot compete with jeep-based entrepreneurs and sidewalk vendors in Makati that sell lunch and merienda. Instead of competing with them, we are trying to make arrangements to make them our partners by supplying them with our meals," said Reynes.

Plans

Aside from the tuxedo meals, which sell for about P72, HMK is offering value meals called Minute Meals like pork adobo priced at P48. Further segmenting the market, the company will be launching by its first anniversary date another product line called Ready Meals, which serves hot and sealed food for between P35 and P38.

Also being worked out is a franchising program.

"Because we are in the mass catering business, we are thinking of franchising the kitchen. With the kitchen, our franchisee would be able to replicate our meals anywhere in the country," said Reynes.