Picky Eaters Hamburgers: A Success Story, Reliving those Glorious Days

To all those Ateneans out there who has been enrolled during the school year 2006-2007, we witnessed the establishment of SOM Mall - a business lab handled by students mostly coming from John Gokongwei School of Management. 

My group and I were one of the first to establish business in the said mall. Our business is the infamous Picky Eaters and along our batch is One Big Flame, Chinky Chicken, Matcha, and Bodhi. Before, plenty aspiring student entrepreneurs inquired on renting a lot at SOM mail before its completely built. Many were dismayed by the fact that rentals of each stall range from 9000-15000 excluding the electricity and water usage fees. Because of these huge costs, many became hesitant to rent.

Even our group doubted if we can reach enough sales to cover all related costs. But, I encouraged the other group members to pursue our plan. WHY? One reason why I know our business will prosper in that area because of substantial market research. Another reason is that being a food fanatic, I strongly believe in our selling product which is to serve customizable hamburgers - Quarter Pounders and Half Pounders.

Even though professors doubted our research, meaning they gave us a failing grade because they did not believe on our business plan. We know factors such as the population of the market (number students in the campus), their buying power (how much money are they willing to spend for food), and their interest on the product.

With just a starting capital of 42,000 pesos. In four months of operation, we earned a net sale of more than 500,000 pesos - the most number of sales during our time. Picky Eaters trampled other food stalls.  Even Mcdonalds and Jollibbee in Katipunan were threatened and came by looking at our stall.

I know all of these stuffs because I was the Chief Financial Officer of our company.I also contributed in Market Research, Marketing, and Operations of Picky Eaters. 

With our success, I really learned that business is all about taking risks. If you really have done your homework in researching your target market, then you must not be daunted by negative feedbacks of closed-minded people. 

Philippine Business Trends: Utilizing the Internet

With our advancing technology, more and more people are being exposed to the Internet or what they call “Internet savvy”. Considering that we still have a low number of Internet users, I foresee that this number will increase rapidly in the near future since having a computer and Internet connection is becoming more accessible. With this, I can say that dealing business in the Philippines is slowly being converted to dealing in the cyber space of Internet. 

For example, you can now buy and sell items online just by browsing the Internet. One good international site is EBAY. They offer entrepreneurs to post their products online for buyers to view. When you want to target the Philippine market, you can view auction.ph and sulit.com.ph. These two I believe are the most popular sites due to their aggressive advertsing schemes.

Another example is using blogs as means for business. I have seen TV shows where they feature a business and they advertise their website as nameofbusiness.multiply.com. One good example of this kind of website is evertsdesserts.multiply.com where she uses her blog to sell delectable pastries ranging from polvorons to cheesecakes.

Currently, I just learned that entering the Domain Industry is also a lucrative business to enter. You just need to speculate and use your creativity in purchasing a domain. Many people worldwide have become millionaires just by purchasing a domain and selling them at a higher price because of the high demand for their respective domain. 

However, all of these require hard work and passion. These things are not learned in school. Even though I have a minor degree in Marketing in Ateneo de Manila University where I was exposed to Brand Management, Advertising Management, and Market Research, I was not exposed to Internet Marketing. 

Overall, there is more room, greater opportunity for us aspiring entrepreneurs to enter the market of our likings. We just need to learn, be updated to current trends, and try to improve our skills by adding more and incorporating them with our other old skills.