Cerealicious
A group of young entrepreneurs discovers an untapped market for cereals in a land where rice is the main food staple.
By Katrina Tan; Photos by At Maculangan
Being young may have its drawbacks when doing business, but the first-time entrepreneurs behind Cerealicious, the Philippines' first cereal café, managed to turn youth into their unique trademark instead. Aside from being the brainchild of five young individuals-Crissy Balatbat, 24, Charlene Falcis, 24, Natasha Tabucal, 24, Andrew Varona, 24, and Zandro Zulueta, 29-Cerealicious' primarily targets the 13 to 21 year old age bracket, and also prefers to have younger individuals as franchisers.
"They are very active and come up with their own ideas-a few have even proposed new menu items!" says Balatbat. With already three branches open since it officially opened doors in January 2006, Cerealicious' rapid expansion is quite rare for those in the food industry. But, as the owners will attest, they spent their fair share of time in the business planning phase.
They began conceptualizing back in March 2005 when Falcis, working in the marketing department of Mister Donut at the time, learned about a hit cereal bar and café in the United States, Cereality. "There are actually a lot of cereal chains in the States, which I thought this was something that would do well in the Philippines," says Falcis. "Plus, I wanted to start something that hadn't been done here yet." So Falcis invited four of her high school and college friends to join her in the venture, and together, they invested a total of P800,000.
"We spent P300,000 during the first year. It was pretty difficult-we registered the business, bought all the ingredients, conducted several taste tests, and did everything ourselves," says Balatbat. "Some people weren't very supportive, but according to our studies, there is actually an untapped market of cereal eaters! Charlene and I even quit our jobs to work on this business. It was really a leap of faith."
Their approach to business was formal, but still enjoyable, says Balatbat. They drafted business plans and financial projections, and brainstormed ways in which they could localize the cereal café concept. "Filipinos are rice eaters-they aren't used to eating cereal as part of their daily diet," says Falcis. "So we try to educate them about cereal's nutritional benefits, and focus on making the total dining experience of being able to choose different types of cereal and toppings an enjoyable one instead."
Their menu, for instance, has a cinematic theme, with a variety of "Cereal Blockbusters". Best-sellers include Nutting Hill, a mix of Koko Krunch, Choco Kisses, nuts, marshmallows, and chocolate syrup; Jumango, scoops of Corn Flakes, mango, honey crumble, and strawberry syrup; and Harry Butter, Finger of Azkaban, a bowl of Honey Crunch, Butterfinger, candy sprinkles, and chocolate syrup. All Blockbusters are sold at a 45 percent markup, in both Small Bowls without ice cream for P40 and Big Bowls with ice cream for P85.
"People enjoy looking at our menu-some even order because of the name!" says Balatbat, who attests to the importance of injecting some Filipino humor into the café. "The Blockbusters are also helpful since some people still aren't familiar with which items to mix. There are 15 Blockbusters available, which we plan to change according to how they sell. Others can opt to create their own combinations from our selection of over 30 kinds of cereal and 40 toppings. We even have one customer who spends P150 on his bowl!"
