Corazon D. Ong: The Woman Behind the Success of CDO Foodsphere Inc.

Corazon D. Ong, was a simple homemaker then; a good wife to his husband Jose
who is a professor at the very prestigious Ateneo de Manila University, and a loving
mother to his three kids – Jerome, Jason & Sharmaine. Aside from that, she is also a
licensed dietician. So, what she did then, as part of her daily routine is to prepare food for
the fami8ly. Being a dietician, she keeps in mind the significance of a balanced healthy
meal to the body, so to make sure that her family will be getting the best meals, she
prepares them herself. Little did she knew, that this hobby of her will be the root of their
success.
As mentioned, the production of food started out as a hobby. She prepares them
tocino, longganisa, and other easy-to-make processed food. It was initially for the family
only, but she noticed that many moms in their neighborhood also likes these products,
she started to sell out. She saw the need of these moms to prepare a quick-fix yet healthy
lunch for their kids, so to help them she started retailing small amounts of these products.
It was highly praised, and Corazon received a lot of positive feedbacks. So, what she did
was, borrow from a local bank a total amount of P60, 000 to put up an official business.
It was in June 25, 1975 when she established CDO Food Products at the backyard of
their humble home. The first product they released was longganisa and tocino among
others.
In 1981, Foodsphere Inc. was duly registered and CDO was retained as the
flagship name of its food products. Innovations and modernizations followed to ran after
the growing industry. The company was converted into a family corporation. Her whole
family worked together to make the business more successful. However, tragedies cannot
be avoided. It was in 1987 when a fire broke out in the company’s processing area,
destroying most of their advanced processing equipments. It was one of the incidents that
really challenged the faith and dedication of Corazon. But she stood above it,
nevertheless. Two days after the fire, Corazon called her staff to plan about what they will
be doing next. Because of that, CDO Foodsphere Inc., was again back on its feet to serve
the Filipino people.
Bouncing back from that, CDO became even more eager to expand their products
horizon. From then on, different innovations of products were continuously being
researched to satisfy the palates of the consumers especially Filipinos. From Longanizas
to tocino, hotdogs and many others, the company tried to develop more and more
products to cater the masses based on their consumption. In 2001, the company
introduced carne norte which suited the Filipino taste at a very reasonable price and
another innovation in the industry. CDO-Foodsphere has emerged as the number one
producer of carne norte in the land. She was also the brain behind the San Marino Corned
Tuna, which is now a hit in the market. CDO Foodsphere has established its success
based on the needs of the consumers. Ong’s core vision came to reality that is to provide
affordable food products to the most number of Filipino households.
Looking back, who would have thought that a simple desire to give the best meals
to the family would became a very profitable and successful business? Yes, CDO’s
Corazon really proved that there is more to being a simple homemaker. Because of her
successes, he has received a lot of awards in her field of interest. These are: Most
Outstanding Nutritionist of the Year in 1996, Agora Awardee for the Most Outstanding
Medium-Scale Entrepreneur in 1997, Most Outstanding Professional in the Field of
Dietetics in 1999, Most Outstanding Woman in Valenzuela in 2006, and Woman
Entrepreneur Award in 2009. But above all these achievements, her most satisfying
award is the way he has brought up their children.

Ref: https://www.trixiebuarao.com/corazon-d-ong-the-woman-behind-the-success-of-
cdo-foodsphere-inc/