A Filipino-owned company that used to serve as central kitchen and commissary for a chain of Italian restaurants in Metro Manila is making waves in the bottled-gourmet goods.

The Merry Cooks Inc. (TMCI)—which branched out into the production of bottled sauces in June 2002, as well as distribution of olive oil, whole peeled tomatoes, wines, pasta, olives, capers, anchovies, balsamic vinegar—has created its own niche in the Philippines by capturing the interest of Filipinos with a distinct taste for Italian food.

Now, its famous Italian dips and spreads that used to be served free at Bravo restaurants of TMCI are starting to invade grocery stores. 

TMCI produces a variety of Italian dips and spreads, which are great with nachos, chips, crackers and toast; tomato-based Italian sauces; as well as Italian breads like croutons, crostini, pizza chips, foccacia and lavosh also under the brand name Bravo!

“I guess Filipinos really love Italian food,” Giannina Suarez, general manager at TMCI said.

Suarez said opening up another restaurant business is not feasible at this time, and the company sees the demand for their products to expand through manufacturing bottled-gourmet goods, including pizza, pasta and spaghetti.

However, Suarez said the company owes it to the science and technology intervention of the Department of Science and Technology’s (DOST) Small Enterprise Technology Upgrading Program (SET-UP).

Before the SET-UP intervention, TMCI’s bottled sauces are cooked in small batches in cooking pots. This results in higher energy consumption. After the company acquire cooking vats as recommended by the DOST agency, production capacity was increased by 300 percent and savings on energy and cooking time were realized. More importantly, product quality and consistency improved.

“With the new equipment on board, our productivity went up by 300 percent,” she said.

TMCI also learned from SET-UP’s in-house Good Manufacturing Practice through a series of training that emphasized production efficiency to the company’s employees.

In 2004, the company used to have only 16 outlets. Now, the company has 50 outlets for its products, according to Suarez. She said the company plans to add 65 more outlets this year.

“We’ve always valued quality. Quality is the cornerstone of our product.  But with the assistance of DOST, we were able to further reduce rejects from five percent to less than one percent.

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