MANILA, Philippines - Successful entrepreneurs say that constant communication and coordination is vital in growing their business. This is just how Chicharific owner Bards Lapid Montanido gets to manage her 31 outlets and eyes expansion to 40 branches by the yearend.
Bards said her franchisees send their reports via email and she equipped her people with laptops and broadband connections powered by Globe Business.Globe makes it easy for entrepreneurs to stay connected with their franchisees using the Biz Laptop and Broadband bundle. “They also text their orders and other concerns, and I regularly get in touch with them using phonecards,” she said. Bards uses Globe Postpaid as well for her business, making sure she can always be reached by the office and her franchisees wherever she goes.
Chicharific has expanded via franchising and is currently exploring export opportunities overseas for her new products.
Coming from the Lapid ancestry, Bards has chosen to carve the Chicharific brand in the local market instead of using the family name which established chicharon franchise today. She shares that his father Federico Lapid Sr. started the family business in 1970s. “He’s been manufacturing chicharon since. His way of cooking is different. We don’t leave them out in the sun. He was able to make dried chicharon pellets that we pop in the store. It takes about two minutes to pop them. So what we do is we cook it in the store while the customer waits. That makes our product distinct because they are freshly popped,” she said.
“Everything I learned I owe it all to my father and I admire his discipline and experience. Until the age of 80 he still goes to Quiapo at 4am where he has a store. He’s always been into selling. He’s so active and he worked all his life,” Bards added. In 2002, she continued the business for her father and started expanding by offering Chicharific franchises, with most of the outlets in the provinces such as Bicol, Vigan, Iloilo, Dagupan, Bacolod and Tacloban and all of them doing well. She has four co-owned outlets in Metro Manila.
Bards said she personally talks to prospective franchisees making sure she has the right partners to grow Chicharific. “I really talk to them casually and I ask them if they really like chicharon. I try to get a feel or like feel the vibes between us. I will be partnering with them for five years. It’s not going to be easy. We should be able to get along,” she said.
To Bards, it is important that she and her franchisees have established a good working relationship that will last and flow smoothly for years. Thus, they would be able to support each other and work closely together towards growing the business.
As she shares her experience to other negosyante and budding entrepreneurs, she discloses that she is having fun managing the business and finds it very fulfilling. “That time I wasn’t a big thinker then. I never thought it would be this big, the prospect of Chicharific. If you’re doing something that you like it becomes so easy. I am enjoying my business. We will have a lot of plans moving forward,” Bards said.