Success, there is a saying, is satisfying when earned the hard method.
To get entrepreneur Lydia Veneracion, 70, her Bulacan Sweets was nurtured with hard work and perseverance. During the last 24 years — but still going solid — Bulacan Sweets’ specialties like pastas and candied fruits have become household brands. Starting with simply 10 kinds of sweets and candies in the 1970s, Bulacan Desserts is now making and selling over two hundred products. It includes also broadened its catalog and now engages in the canning and bottling of Bagoong, Lechon Paksiw, taba ng talangka (crab fat paste) and binagoongan (shrimp paste).
From just one display rack in 1970, that now has 13 outlets for most shopping malls in Metro Manila. “I was happy easily earned P100 per day during that time, ” Veneracion says of her business, that has since grown into a multi-million-peso venture. Veneracion recalls the lady only acquired P1, 000 as capital in 1970 the moment she began her organization in an aprtment in Alejamiento Street (now Amoranto Street) n La Loma, Quezon City.
Today, she has a chocolate factory, a kitchen and a clinical.
She says the girl used to acquire pastillas and other candies via her relatives in her hometown of San Miguel, Bulacan. During that time, she simply had two helpers to assist her to make some of the items she markets. Bulacan Sweets now uses over sixty workers. The girl takes pride that a lot of of her sales ladies can afford to attend school throughout their spare time. Natural Interest
Producing candies offers always interested Veneracion. The lady inherited her love for cooking and food preparation via her grandma, also a Bulakeña. At an early age, your woman learned steps to make fruits just like mangoes and kamias in mouth-watering goodies. Veneracion, who have used to act as a government nurse inside the 1960’s, decided to leave the workplace early once her four children had been growing up. Setting up a retail store then was just a hobby to ease the monotony she felt while wating for her children to rturn from school. Blessed for her, hubby Lorenzo Veneracion — now a Regional Trial Court Assess of Manila — has always been supportive of her endeavor. The growth with the Bulacan Sweets business exemplifies Filipino entrepreneurship, partnership and creativity. Veneracion relates that during the first two years of her business, the store just had a couple of buyers.
It was her hubby who helped in the first marketing of their products when he used direct mail to attract clients. She recalls her hubby sending albhabets to people on the telephone directory site. It so happened that one of the letters reached a writer of a countrywide daily. The writer who have dropped by simply her retail store was i am so happy with her products that she presented her in her line. “The following day, I was stunned when a lot of people flocked to the store. I even marketed all the items in the glass shelf, ” Veneracion relates. While sales extended to grow, the Veneracion couple frequented several provinces nationwide to include regional special treats in their products. “We must do this since our customers were asking for these products, ” Veneracion says. Bulacan Sweets doesn’t only offer delicacies by Bulacan, but also sells pili nuts from Bicol, vinegar from Ilocos, broas from Quezon, bokayo via Pangasinan and pure sweetie from Palawan. The imagination of the persons behind Bulacan Sweets is evident with the stores’ vibrant boxes and artfully-wrapped items, which have collection a pattern in the product packaging of native delicacies.
These artistic wrappers have become a popular choice that they are now sold separately. Veneracion employs the services of an experienced designer to develop beautiful wrappers for the sweets. Stored fruits in the bottles are also distinctively ready with their handcrafted designs. Fruit preserves, also, are shaped creatively. Many hotels and catering businesses are also buying Bulacan Desserts products for his or her customers. To enhance her goods, Veneracion does take time to attend seminars here and overseas. She recently went to a workshop in Japan to get ideas on the latest technology in the food sector, including the the labels of delicacies. She is also part of a nationwide business called Built-in Manufacturers of Food Products Israel that aims to help foodstuff manufacturers boost their products and discover solutions to complications nagging the industry. Veneracion says the problem of her business is a expensive selling price of sugars and sometimes, deficiency of fruit source, which are the key ingredients of her goods. Sweet Dreams
To preserve the continuity in the business, Veneracion has asked her girl — Loli, a graduate of resort and cafe management — to help her in the business. She adds that she wants the business to be a family traditions. Both mom and child help each other to assess the industry situation and decide on the necessity to open new outlets. The Bulacan Candy owner, meantime, has on her most fervent wish someone buy of her products countrywide, and even in international markets. Though Bulacan Candy has yet to have an overseas outlet, usana products are now sold in the United States and several countries in Asia. Frequent distributors can advertise the products abroad under several brands. The merchandise also reach foreign coast because many balikbayans happen to be buying them as pasalubong to their close friends and relatives overseas. Veneracions says the girl hopes to continue with the sweet success of her goods by ensuring quality produce in excellent presentation. More importantly, your woman recognizes the value of good consumer relations. For someone in the business the past 24 years, the Bulacan Sweets business owner knows what it takes to make a accomplishment story.
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