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Wednesday, March 02, 2005
Navales Foods finds success
By Jenny Molbog-Mendoza
VICTOR Navales, owner-manager of Navales Foods, describes his business as something that could be likened to beer.
"Para kaming beer. If the economy is good, everybody is buying beer but if the economy is not so good, the sales become sluggish since the product is not considered as a basic good," he lamented.
Navales Foods is one popular name in baked goodies, from durian cookies to cassava crisps. Name it and you would have a taste of it.
Road to success
In late 1980s, shortly before former President Cory Aquino assumed presidency, the economy was not so good. Revenues generated by companies were not enough to suffice the needs of the whole operation. Vic lost his job.
"I used to work for an American company. But sales was not doing well. I applied from one company to another but I did not get a job. I kep on praying for a job but at the latter part of my prayer, I said: If may mas nangangailangan pa po kaysa sa akin, ibigay N'yo na lang po sa kanya ang trabaho," he said.
While flipping some old notes, he accidentally found an old cassava cake recipe.
"It was really so old, brown na ang color ng papel at torn out na talaga. I read it and then I baked some for my family and gave a portion of it to my neighbors," he said.
The cassava cake he made turned out just fine, his family liked it as well as his neighbors. Days after, his neigbors asked him to bake some more for them.
"Nasarapan sila nang husto sa ginawa and that's the start na nagluluto na ako for people na nag-o-order and also for shool and office canteens," he said.
That was the start of Vic's business. But grey light came into the picture. A number of unfavorable circumstances were encountered by Vic.
When they were supplying school canteens with cassava cake, cookies, and meat bread, their operations were immediately stopped due to some reasons, to wit: the management of some school canteens changed and the new owners decided to stop the delivery; the school decided to produce their own goodies; and unscheduled suspension of classes.
Due to the low shelf life of Vic's products, he was at the losing end when the last scenario took place.
One day, Vic met a "good baker" who asked him if he knew how to cook other recipes aside from cassava cake. The baker added that offering just one product would limit the success that he could possibly be reaping of or the opportunities that were about to flourish will be lost.
The baker gave few instructions to Vic about baking other goodies.
The following day, Vic showed his products to the baker. The baker was not happy with the output. He ordered Vic to bake again. This time, Vic passed in the taste test.
After that encounter, Vic talked to his wife Nenita and they decided to open a bakery on Lapu-Lapu Street in Agdao, the present location of their business. They started baking their products with the use of one La Germania oven.
Navales Foods is not an ordinary bakery. It is more of an industrial enterprise for it does not display its products inside the bakery. The bakery just serves as a factory.
All goodies are being displayed in the shops of their clients--groceries of Gaisano Mall of Davao, NCCC, SM City, 39 Convenience Store outlets, and canteens of San Pedro College (SPC) and Holy Cross of Davao College (HCDC).
Among the mouth-watering products of Navales Foods are siritsit (cassava crisps), broas, butter toast, toasted bread, linga cookies, and durian desire (the only durian-flavoured cookie in the country).
The competitor
Vic said their biggest competitors right now are the big producers of wafer biscuits.
"Malaki kasi tingnan ang produko. Aside from that, the product is being sold at a very low price. Deceiving kumbaga. Ang sa amin kasi mas maliit tingnan pero siksik naman sa laman," he said.
Vic used to cater to the Manila market but due to "tremendous freight cost, I had to stop from supplying the said market."
Products to wait for
Vic is planning to come up with two additional products within this year--mango and peanut flavored cookies--to further invade the cookielandia.
And to have a better and more accessible site, Navales Foods is moving from Lapu-Lapu Stree to Cabaguio early this month.
(March 2, 2005 issue)
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