R. Lapid’s chicharon expands market share via franchising

One of the largest Chicharon manufacturers in the Philippines, R. Lapid’s is aiming to expand its market share in Cebu as it spreads its franchising venture in the province.

Having started the business in 1974 by a Filipino entrepreneur named Ray C. Lapid who has been noted for his long years experience in the chicharon and barbeque industry, R. Lapid’s have attained competitiveness and was able to maintain a good reputation throughout the years.

The manufacturer innovated and standardized the system of chicharon processing in 1995 and was the first to introduce cooking of chicharon in front of the customers inside big establishments like malls according to R. Lapid’s franchising officer Cherry Rose D. Rosete in an interview.

She added that R. Lapid’s is also noted to be the first chicharon manufacturer to use imported pork skin as raw ingredient and these were sourced from US, Europe, Canada and Korea. 

As of the moment there are already 60 company-owned stalls nationwide and about 10 franchisees. They have branches in almost all SM malls nationwide, Petron stations and other commercial establishments.

Rosete shared that the company decided to venture into franchising last year to expand the network and grow the business. She said that joining this year’s Negososyo in SM was their way of introducing the company to potential and interested franchisees here in Cebu.

R. Lapid’s has a commissary in north reclamation and will soon be opening a franchise at the country mall this month. Rosete said that here in Cebu, the company is still not very known.

“Hindi pa kami masyadong naka-penetrate dito kaya medyo mababa pa ang sales namin dito, but we hope that sooner it will get better,” said Rosete.

With the vision of developing and consistently maintaining high standard and quality products and service that can compete in the global market,  the company is also into exporting and in fact, this December Rosete said that they are going to open a bigger store in U.S. to tap a larger possible client-base.

R. Lapid’s is accredited by the National Meat Inspection Commission and registered in the National Library as copyright claimants since 1996 an the Intellectual Property Office for its trademark protection since 2000. —Rhia de Pablo