The ‘big fish in a small pond’: Bangus King continues to build empire here and abroad
POST-PANDEMIC, there’s really no stopping Mr. Dagupeño to become even more of a “big fish in a small pond” as it moves up to the next-level of its expansion with a new dine-in format and initiative to further multiply here and abroad.
Started out as a bangus or milkfish takeout kiosk business in 2016 using their savings of P150,000 as a capital, he and his wife, Katherine, was able to expand their store network from merely their first store along Sumulong highway, in Barangay Mambugan, Antipolo City to other parts of the country and even offshore.
“When we started the business, we intended to go nationwide, and we’re really committed to that dream,” Mr. Dagupeño Founder and CEO Eric Montoya told reporters in a recent online media briefing. “That vision fueled us to reach this stage wherein we now have close to 70 outlets.”
Primarily niching on the country’s national fish, this neighborhood food enterprise offers tasty and smoky boneless milkfish grilled to perfection either the traditional way—simply cooked with toppings like tomatoes and onions—or with a twist such as ala pobre, bistek, gata, cheese and chimi churri.
But to keep up with the competition, its menu is expanded with other delicious milkfish delicacies like Relleno Bangus, as well as other offerings, namely, Grilled Liempo and Grilled Pusit. What’s more, it caters frozen goods, such as Daing na Bangus, Tinapang Bangus, Lumpiang Bangus, Alaminos Longganisa, Chicken Embotido, and other products from Pangasinan.
Not only that the word-of-mouth gained by their delectable and unique tastes and presentations has made Mr. Dagupeño an authority, or at least the go-to brand for different ways of cooking the milkfish, but also earned for Montoya the “Bangus King” monicker.
Crisis-proof
A TRUE blue royalty in the grill business, this entity indeed has not been dethroned even by the deadly coronavirus.
When the Covid-19 virus hit the country and the rest of the world early 2020, Mr. Dagupeño proved its mettle as it remained operational amid the closure of most businesses, especially in the food segment, with the government’s lockdown imposition and strict health and safety protocols.
He attributed this to their stores’ strategic location being situated in open areas like communities and main thoroughfares that spared them from restrictions and temporary halts applied to businesses seated on enclosed commercial establishments like the malls.
With some tweaking on their business to make it more suited to the situation, the Montoyas were able to mitigate the possible grave effect of the health crisis on their bottomline.
“Our consistency when it comes to our desire to continue do the business everyday at same energy level and, at the same time, adoptability to the pandemic that we experienced helped us survive until today,” the owner said.
Facing another headwind
WHILE the empire that the Montoyas have been trying to build over the last seven years has had endured the Covid-19 crisis, it has been confronted anew by another challenge.
“When inflation hit 8.6 percent in December 2022, it has an effect on us,” he conceded. “Although our coping mechanism really is to increase our price, but we balance it to still bring affordability to the people.”
Doing so, Montoya shared that they look at the market trends. For instance, he cited that they closely monitor the price of their competitors.
“Right now, our bangus is at P325. So we are very conscious on that. Good thing we are luckier because while the prices of other commodities have increased, the milkfish is not that high. So we were able to hold our price increase until December 2022,” he said.
“We just had an increase in January of this year at P10 only from our previous pricing. We really needed to increase as prices of gasoline and vegetables spiked during that time, especially onions used as filling in our bangus,” he explained.
From local to global
TO widen its reach further, Mr. Dagupeño has expanded its footprints not only domestically, but also internationally.
With nearly 70 take-out stores in Rizal, Metro Manila, Batangas, Cavite, Laguna and more ongoing openings nationwide, the founder and CEO bared that they are going to the second stage of their expansion.
“We’re aiming for another 30 branches, so by the end of the year, hopefully, we’ll get to 100 active branches,” Montoya revealed. “But overall, we want to reach 250 branches across the country by next year.”
Part of this plan is their recent opening of a restaurant called the House of Bangus by Mr. Dagupeño in Dagupan, Pangasinan. This new dine-in concept is the only bangus specialty restaurant in the province.
“We consider that as the nextlevel strategy for us to penetrate the malls, elevate our operations, and also to go global,” he pointed out.
The owners hope to open the House of Bangus by Mr. Dagupeño franchised restaurants in Northern Luzon and National Capital Region.
Aiming to bring the brand closer to Filipino communities abroad, he disclosed their current transactions with franchisees to possibly open this dine-in bistro in California in the United States and a second outlet of a take-out kiosk in Dubai, United Arab Emirates.
“Our overseas expansion, hopefully, will happen this second half of the year or first half next year,” Montoya stressed. “So we are in the planning stage now. Its really an ultimate dream of all the food businesses to cater to our overseas Filipino communities.”