The ‘big fish in a small pond’: Bangus King continues to build empire here and abroad Senate OKs bill governing SSFs

By Roderick L. Abad @rodrik_28 Contributor

Started out as a bangus or milkfish takeout kiosk business in 2016 using their savings of P150,000 as a capital, he and his wife, Katherine, was able to expand their store network from merely their first store along Sumulong highway, in Barangay Mambugan, Antipolo City to other parts of the country and even offshore.

MICRO, small and medium enterprises (MSMEs) will now be able to utilize more the machinery, equipment and tools of the Shared Service Facilities (SSFs) of the Department of Trade and Industry (DTI) to improve their production, processes and overall competitiveness after senators approved on Monday Senate Bill No. (SBN) 2021 with 22 affirmative, no negative votes, and no abstentions.

Senator Sonny Angara, who authored and sponsored the measure, lauded his colleagues for the quick approval of the bill, seeing that the SSF project will go a long way in supporting the growth and development of MSMEs.

When passed into law, Angara said SBN 2021 will ensure the annual funding under the General Appropriations Act for the implementation of the SSF project that has benefited thousands of MSMEs in the country since its inception in 2013.

“There were years when the SSF project was not funded and this is what will be addressed with this bill.

Malaki ang naitutulong ng mga SSFs sa mga maliliit na negosyo na hindi kayang gumastos para bumili ng mga kagamitan tulad ng mga makina upang mapalago ang kanilang operasyon kaya dapat lang na siguraduhin natin na tuloy-tuloy ang implementasyon nito [SSFs help a lot in small businesses that cannot afford to buy equipment such as machines to grow their operations so we just have to make sure that its implementation is continuous],” Angara said.

The SSFs are managed by “cooperators” that are usually cooperatives, people’s organizations, industry associations, local government units, and state universities and colleges, for the common use of the MSME beneficiaries.

“These could be as simple as sewing machines to more complex machines like 3D printers that are housed in SSF fabrication laboratories [Fab Labs] that MSMEs can use usually for a small fee. Through these SSFs, the MSMEs can scale up their production, improve on their packaging, and introduce innovations to their products,” Angara noted.

Under the bill, SSF Fab Labs will be established in at least one strategic location in every province. Priority will be given to provinces without existing Fab Labs.

The Fab Labs were showcased at the height of the Covid-19 pandemic when these were used for the manufacturing of face shields, face masks, medical gowns, aerosol boxes and ethyl alcohol to cater to the huge demand while the importation of these supplies was still undergoing.

So far, a total of 3,484 SSFs and 43 SSF Fab Labs have been established across the country, based on data from the DTI. PNA

“When we started the business, we intended to go nationwide, and we’re really committed to that dream,” Mr. Dagupeño Founder and CEO Eric Montoya told reporters in a recent online media briefing. “That vision fueled us to reach this stage wherein we now have close to 70 outlets.”

Primarily niching on the country’s national fish, this neighborhood food enterprise offers tasty and smoky boneless milkfish grilled to perfection either the traditional way—simply cooked with toppings like tomatoes and onions—or with a twist such as ala pobre, bistek, gata, cheese and chimi churri.

But to keep up with the competition, its menu is expanded with other delicious milkfish delicacies like Relleno Bangus, as well as other offerings, namely, Grilled Liempo and Grilled Pusit. What’s more, it caters frozen goods, such as Daing na Bangus, Tinapang Bangus, Lumpiang Bangus, Alaminos Longganisa, Chicken Embotido, and other products from Pangasinan.

Not only that the word-of-mouth gained by their delectable and unique tastes and presentations has made Mr. Dagupeño an authority, or at least the go-to brand for different ways of cooking the milkfish, but also earned for Montoya the “Bangus King” monicker.

Crisis-proof

A TRUE blue royalty in the grill business, this entity indeed has not been dethroned even by the deadly coronavirus.

When the Covid-19 virus hit the country and the rest of the world early 2020, Mr. Dagupeño proved its mettle as it remained operational amid the closure of most businesses, especially in the food segment, with the government’s lockdown imposition and strict health and safety protocols.

He attributed this to their stores’ strategic location being situated in open areas like communities and main thoroughfares that spared them from restrictions and temporary halts applied to businesses seated on enclosed commercial establishments like the malls.

With some tweaking on their business to make it more suited to the situation, the Montoyas were able to mitigate the possible grave effect of the health crisis on their bottomline.

“Our consistency when it comes to our desire to continue do the business everyday at same energy level and, at the same time, adoptability to the pandemic that we experienced helped us survive until today,” the owner said.

Facing another headwind

WHILE the empire that the Montoyas have been trying to build over the last seven years has had endured the Covid-19 crisis, it has been confronted anew by another challenge.

“When inflation hit 8.6 percent in December 2022, it has an effect on us,” he conceded. “Although our coping mechanism really is to increase our price, but we balance it to still bring affordability to the people.”

Doing so, Montoya shared that they look at the market trends. For instance, he cited that they closely monitor the price of their competitors.

“Right now, our bangus is at P325. So we are very conscious on that. Good thing we are luckier because while the prices of other commodities have increased, the milkfish is not that high. So we were able to hold our price increase until December 2022,” he said.

“We just had an increase in January of this year at P10 only from our previous pricing. We really needed to increase as prices of gasoline and vegetables spiked during that time, especially onions used as filling in our bangus,” he explained.

From local to global

TO widen its reach further, Mr. Dagupeño has expanded its footprints not only domestically, but also internationally.

With nearly 70 take-out stores in Rizal, Metro Manila, Batangas, Cavite, Laguna and more ongoing openings nationwide, the founder and CEO bared that they are going to the second stage of their expansion.

“We’re aiming for another 30 branches, so by the end of the year, hopefully, we’ll get to 100 active branches,” Montoya revealed. “But overall, we want to reach 250 branches across the country by next year.”

Part of this plan is their recent opening of a restaurant called the House of Bangus by Mr. Dagupeño in Dagupan, Pangasinan. This new dine-in concept is the only bangus specialty restaurant in the province.

“We consider that as the nextlevel strategy for us to penetrate the malls, elevate our operations, and also to go global,” he pointed out.

The owners hope to open the House of Bangus by Mr. Dagupeño franchised restaurants in Northern Luzon and National Capital Region.

Aiming to bring the brand closer to Filipino communities abroad, he disclosed their current transactions with franchisees to possibly open this dine-in bistro in California in the United States and a second outlet of a take-out kiosk in Dubai, United Arab Emirates.

“Our overseas expansion, hopefully, will happen this second half of the year or first half next year,” Montoya stressed. “So we are in the planning stage now. Its really an ultimate dream of all the food businesses to cater to our overseas Filipino communities.”