Our Humble Beginning

The beginning is the hardest part as they say. But all will be worth it. Our first month is great
indeed! The actual result exceeded our expectations. Therefore we ended the year 2019 fruitful.

As we continue our milestone, we embraced the beginning of 2020 with excitement, hopes, and
commitment to continue what we have started. We faced a bigger challenge. Competition is
very high for another new competitor to rise in addition to the previous ones. Another thing is
that crisis experienced during January resulted in a big decline in our sales which is 33%
dropped from the previous month. It happened what we did not expect. As what Taylor Swift
said, “Just because you made a good plan, doesn’t mean that’s what’s going to happen. But if
you want to finish what you have started you might have to throw that plan out and make a new
one. Things change, including your plan.

Our Response to Change of Plans

If you fail in your plan A, do not give up because there’s always the next letter to do next. “It is
not the strongest of the species that survive, nor the most intelligent, but the one most
responsive to change.” – Charles Darwin

We plan for a change of our 4Ps, (Product, Price, Place, and Promotion).

Product

With our beverages, we added new flavors of milk tea series such as chocolate, dark chocolate,
red velvet, java chip, cookies and cream, and much more. We also offered cheesecake and
oreo series.

With our snacks, we offered a unique product (Super Long Fries) which we are the exclusive
seller in town and also nachos. This finger food with overload sauce variants gives a way for us
to bounce back higher.

Price

Our price is competitive. We offer combo meals which our customers can save more. In
connection with our promotion, we also give discounts to any of their orders during selected
dates or events booked with us.

Place

We have a very simple beginning and started so small. As a part of the change, we decided to
make the ambiance look better and more comfortable for our customers. We made it more
colorful and neater. Our tarpaulins menu board was changed to Painted Boards. Plain painted
walls were painted with art. Additional tables fixed over the wall to maximize space and cater to
more customers were also created. Since we look at change and there’s an opportunity, we
planned to expand with a garden type set up. The plan is to put up an extension for the dining
area outside with a bamboo fence inspired design. Applying that big dream and start small and
because we need a wider space for our customers, we figure out to make it to reality by using a
wired fence, and concrete tables with umbrellas.

Promotion

Creating a Facebook Page is a great one. It allows us to market beyond our reach. We invite
friends to like and share our page. We also take pictures of our customers, their orders, and
bonding moments with their permission to be posted as a way of keeping their moments with us
plus making also other people to know what we offer. Aside from just merely posting, we also
boost our post to reach more customers. All 4Ps were combined with a change to make a big
impact of change.

ACHIEVEMENT

Our Plan B is a Success! Our sales picked up by 159 % compared to the previous month and
over 72% the month we started. This was made to reality because our new partners accepted
our offer without hesitation.

GREATEST CHALLENGE

It’s just around one month and a half after we launched our new product and those days were
the peak moments getting our shop to be well known with our customers when we heard about
the sad news that President Duterte announced for an Enhanced Community Quarantine due to
COVID 19 virus outbreak.

As a safety measure, because health is wealth, we decided to temporarily shut down our
operation effective March 17, 2020. This pandemic tested our patience and strength. It tested
us for our survival. We have no chance to be prepared for before it happened. It was alarming
over the whole wide world.

When ECQ was lifted and changed to General Community Quarantine (GCQ) restaurants were
allowed to operate for takeout and deliveries only. This left a big question in our mind, how are
we going back to the normal operations? How can we sell our products? How can we replenish
our stocks? What will be the changes are we going to do?

We have no choice but to respond to a big change. In cooperation with the community in
fighting against the spread of the virus, we reduce our time of operation. We have new normal
operating hours from 9 am-5 pm daily and closed when it is raining because we cannot deliver.
We also tie-up with online sellers to sell our products with a commission. Good thing we have
good friends with service whom we asked favour to bring in stocks and supplies from Aparri and
Tuguegarao.

These moves were good ones but not enough. We need to have higher sales to make it even
at break even. New products like sushi, spaghetti, pizza rolls, chicken wings, and taco salad
were introduced. Among these, only pizza rolls were available daily while others are on a pre-
order basis. These products were accepted by customers with very good feedback which helps
us to survive in these tough times.

As we assessed our actual result of the operation, we failed to achieve our original projections
but we will not give up and a positive net income even with this pandemic experience is already
a great one. Many are incurring losses; many went closure and bankruptcy but thanks God we
are still standing. We are shaken, we become weak, but we will always rise to continue what
we’ve started and to make our dream a Success.