PORAC, PAMPANGA—Filipinos are known worldwide for their “close family ties” value. Since time immemorial, it has enabled them to withstand the test of time amid the manifold crises that happened here or worldwide.
This holds true for the Garcia family, the owner of leading meat processing company Mekeni Food Corp. (MFC), which through thick and thin, has remained resilient and steadfast to bounce back from the many challenges that came their way.
Taking a cue from their experience of running a small business to augment their income, former public school teachers Felix and Meding Garcia started to put up in 1986 a processed meat production venture named, “Mekeni,” derived from the Capampangan word for “come here,” at the back of their house in Porac, Pampanga.
Using merely their retirement money and with the help of a very lean production staff, they produced homemade chicharon and tocino.
Little did they know that, eventually, the business will grow. However, it did not come so easy and smooth sailing.
Like any other successful businesses, MFC also had its share of tribulations prior to reaching its current status as a billion-peso food enterprise.
When Mount Pinatubo erupted in June 1991, the Garcia’s backyard business, including their meat processing plant was also buried under lahar. It was the first huge predicament they had to face.
Fortunately, with the help of their children, especially their overseas Filipino worker sons Adrian, Angelito and Prudencio, they rebuilt their trade and, at the same time, provided jobs for their cabalens (or townmates), as well as supported their community to rise from the ashes.
But that was just the beginning of the spate of challenges they could never imagine. The MFC was confronted by the following: the 1997 Asian economic tailspin, the foot and mouth disease outbreak, the 2009 global financial crisis, African swine fever (ASF) outbreak, and the ensuing Covid-19 pandemic.
“Based on what happened, supposed to be we’re the first one to surrender. This is because we were hit by lahar, etc. Now, the pandemic, wherein two members of our family died—my youngest brother and sister-in-law. That was in 2021. [We’re] caught unprepared actually,” MFC President Prudencio “Pruds” S. Garcia told the BusinessMirror in mixed Filipino and English during an interview held at their 26-hectare meat processing facility in their native province.
“As one of the officers of the company, that was the greatest challenge. But without knowing which I considered the greatest challenge, it is a very good opportunity to show what Mekeni is all about. We always rise beyond these challenges,” he said.
The top executive attributed their recovery to hard work, determination and teamwork being the core values within the organization. He, likewise, believes that care and gratitude are also pivotal in keeping them grounded while being successful.
“We are blessed with the people that we have,” Garcia said of their more than 1,300 employees they consider also as their family. “We are so blessed with partners that we have. Customers, no matter what the problem is, don’t leave us. Stakeholders are always there.”
Year of reaffirmation
AT the end of the tunnel, the Garcias finally saw a ray of light. Slowly getting over their bereavement, 2021 was the year of vindication for the family.
In fact, the president noted that the health crisis allowed them to reflect and conceptualize long-term effective solutions in order to keep the business afloat and keep a beneficial relationship with their stakeholders.
“That’s why I told our people, ‘Let’s forget all the figures. Let’s forget of our three to five year plan.’ The [business] landscape has changed. We must focus on our survival. But we can only survive, if we help others to survive,” he emphasized.
At the onset of the pandemic, MFC introduced programs and product lines. One of which is the Mekeni Home2Home Delivery, an online delivery platform aimed at constantly providing the consumers with quality and safe products.
“Through this program, we were also able to cater to resellers, which allowed us to uplift more lives by giving them extra income while at home and likewise expanded our reach to different parts of the country,” Garcia said.
On the other hand, the company strengthened and diversified its offerings and launched a new product line, comprised of siomai, siopao, fishball, squid ball, and kikiam, among others.
Under the Mekeni Me Kita or MMK program, they are geared toward street food vendors, food cart owners, and other micropreneurs who are into reselling. Since they are considered like a hero who will continue to sell to feed their family, this initiative became known as Bayani Negosyo Partner, which seeks to empower and aid small and medium enterprises grow their businesses, while ensuring the quality of the products they sell to their customers.
MFC makes sure that the quality and safety standards it enforces for its local and overseas suppliers are aligned with government and regulatory requirements. Hence, it is compliant with the Food and Nutrition Research Institute requirement as reflected in the nutritional facts panels of its products.
It also adheres to the Republic Act 8172 or the ASIN (The Act for Salt Iodization Nationwide) law, which promotes the use of iodized salt to address the call of the regulatory body to help in the campaign to minimize the micronutrient deficiency problem of the marginalized population. While sourcing is an important stage in their supply chain, the president conceded that the country is lacking pork supply. This limits the firm from partnering with just local suppliers.
Despite achieving a stable inventory after the outbreak in 2019, some parts of the country are still banning pork-based products from Luzon at present.
“That remains a challenge among Luzon-based manufacturers,” he admitted, referring to their case of 100 percent importation of pork products from Canada, Europe and the US, except for chicken and some local spices.
Beyond the domestic market, the pandemic also inspired the firm to bring the Mekeni brand outside the country. Unfortunately, this plan was put on hold due to the government’s first roll out of the enhanced community quarantine in March 2020. Following the delay due to the lockdown periods, it started to fast track its export business a year after.
Subsequent to their initial trial in Canada, MFC finally penetrated the United States in January 2022 with its street food products fish ball and kikiam through a partnership with Island Pacific Supermarket, one of the biggest Asian/Filipino retail establishments there. It was followed by Mekeni Classic Tocino (July 2022); more street food products Orlians, Squid Balls, and Fish Ball Sauce; and Mekeni’s flagship hotdog brand Picnic, Chef’s Sausage; and Chicken and Pork Longaniza (December 2022).
Apart from the two North American countries, Mekeni products are also exported to Dubai, Australia, Bahrain, Brunei, Japan, Saudi Arabia, United Arab Emirates, Cayman Islands, Italy, The Netherlands, New Zealand, and Qatar.
Such efforts are guided by the tagline: “Let us bring the taste of home to our kababayans.” He explained: “Filipinos want to go home, but they cannot go home because of the pandemic. [Because] they want to see their family to feel like home, why don’t we bring the taste of home?”
Thriving anew
SURPASSING the coronavirus outbreak, MFC is now thriving, with an enhanced business performance.
“Slowly, we’re improving the numbers so we can give more to the community, [and] we can give more to our people. We haven’t graduated yet. There are still many challenges, but we’re still working at that,” Garcia said, while citing the increase in the number of their workers, customers, and territories abroad which, eventually, will reflect on their financial scorecard.
The meat processor offers a wide array of products for various taste preferences and budgets. Some of its bestsellers are Picnic Hotdog, which has become a household name in Pampanga; Tocino, which comes in two variants, Classic Sweet and Tamis-Alat; Sisig; and Embotido. Bayani products are, likewise, considered most sought-after, too, not only because of their taste and quality but because they are flexible for home and business use.
Per MFC Marketing Group Manager Sheila Marie S. Ocampo, the firm has just rebranded its product lines, with the Mekeni Gold, the premium portfolio; Mekeni GoLite, or healthy alternatives; Mekeni Specials, which offer value for money; and the Mekeni Suki Choice intended for the economy consumers.
“So at Mekeni, we have a full slew of products catering to the various needs of the different types of consumers,” she said.
While many businesses have been affected by the Covid-19 crisis, MFC has remained strong business-wise. To wit, it registered a double-digit growth in terms of volume and even surpassed the industry average in 2021. The uptrend continued in 2022 with a better performance than the previous year and the highest record volume and value in the past five years.
“We will be starting a new fiscal year next month with high spirits. As always, our growth target is double-digit or at least 10 percent,” Garcia shared, while citing as growth drivers their distribution expansion in Central Luzon, North Luzon, National Capital Region, and Bicol, etc. “Because of this, we were able to strengthen our presence in our bailiwicks Central and North Luzon. Our Bayani Negosyo Partner also contributed to our growth in some parts of the country like in Visayas and Mindanao.”
Since their export business is now getting bigger in terms of location, he is also bullish that it could also help a lot to improve their numbers.
Braving the headwinds
BESIDES the pandemic, the unabated inflation hike is among the many problems besetting not only the Philippines, but the rest of the world.
“With the surge in raw materials prices and freight costs, it is inevitable to implement price increases. Price increase is necessary for us to be able to provide the same quality products to our stakeholders. But we ensure that any price increase is fair and within the industry standard,” he assured.
Garcia pointed out their effort to manage the rising costs of raw materials through advanced planning and getting reliable suppliers. He underscored: “In terms of the bottom line, we are within our targets and posted positive growth last year.”
As part of its mission to provide products relevant to stakeholders, MFC has many plans in the pipeline.
“This year, we still continue to do product launches and look at products that are relevant to our consumers. And what we brought to the US—the kikiam and fishball—will also be introduced here so that the Filipinos can also have a taste of them,” Ocampo revealed.
“We are also looking for pork tapa and beef tapa. We will launch them soon. I believe in the next one to two years, they will grow,” added Garcia.
The company is constantly on the lookout for opportunities in terms of growing its distributors, resellers and product portfolio.
“Hopefully, this year we’ll try to penetrate the VizMin area. But we are being controlled because of the ASF and bird flu. So we can bring there fishball,” he bared, adding the continued expansion of their export business in the coming months. “We are meeting several potential partners, but we cannot divulge them yet due to NDAs (nondisclosure agreements).”
Setting its sights on other global markets, MFC is working on exporting to the Middle East before yearend. It seeks for possible collaboration there to cater halal food products.
“We will solidify our distribution this year. We will ensure that Mekeni products are available at relevant channels and are reaching our target markets,” Garcia stressed. “For export, we will strive harder to reach more countries and bring the taste of home to Filipinos abroad.”
Image credits: NONIE REYES
