Establishing an import business in RP

[robert angel]

Wow Kfc:

>>She said that she will not open them - she will wait for me to arrive & we will open the boxes together.<<

In it's own way, that speaks volumes on how she's just not in it for the benjamins. If it was me, I'd be prying up corners, poking lil holes and looking for an X Ray machine for those boxes until you got there....

[robert angel]

Yeyo Dave!

Those pics almost make Planet-Love tolerable to my wife! That and the fact that there are almost no women here and the few gems that are here don't use it as a match making launch platform.....

[Dave H]

If it was me, I'd be prying up corners, poking lil holes and looking for an X Ray machine for those boxes until you got there....

Hey Rob,

It must be a "Rob thing"...you are just like my brother! He used to carefully open all of the Christmas presents when we were kids and re-tape them. Then he would taunt me with "I know what you got! Do you want to know?"

Dave

[robert angel]

Yea Dave, but I'd make em pay to find out!

>>He used to carefully open all of the Christmas presents when we were kids and re-tape them. Then he would taunt me with "I know what you got! Do you want to know?"<<

My niece (niece in law?)in Manila isn't even one and a half years old and she KNOWS there's good stuff in those boxes. She sits and sits on the box, patiently waiting until the big moment comes when her daddy gets home....

[AsphaltVoyager]

Update: While the "relationship" I have now is still very much in flux, I am still thinking strongly about establishing a business of my own, importing Filipino foods and comfort items for sale. I will set up the business in the Dallas metroplex, though there are only approximately 20,000 Pinoy there. I think that is still a large enough population segment to support a decent business. I have been doing a lot of research on startup costs, including approximate inventory cost, annual lease expenditures per sq. ft., insurance costs, desired location, advertising avenues and costs, and I have started on a business plan as well as am investigating possible financing resources. The fuzziest part of the whole equation is where to turn for wholesale suppliers and exactly what items would be best to stock my shelves with to get the best profit margin per sq. ft. Then, too, there's the question of markup and what the market will bear that will let me turn the inventory over as many times as possible each year. I have to wonder if it wouldn't be better to try and establish a relationship with an exporter in RP rather than have another middleman here in the States to skim profit from me. I just don't know that anyone would want to do business with a single store that might not produce enough business volume to make it profitable for them. The shipping costs may make such an arrangement prohibitive.

So far, my best guess on what the startup costs would be come to around $320k., based on a 3000 sq. ft. store carrying $150-200k of inventory and with me doing a lot of shelf manufacturing plus any inside touchups and signage, with a lot of legwork and phone calls to get word out about the store's existence.

There are other "Asian" food markets there, but none that cater to the Pinoy. Mostly, the other stores are geared toward Korean, Indian, Chinese, and Vietnamese residents. I will include some items that are not specifically Pinoy, too, because I'd like to eventually establish a much larger Asian bazaar of sorts under one roof, approximately the size of a Whole Foods Market, taking market share from other stores in the area. At that point, I'd have a staff of people, all the various ethnicities represented, with them in charge of their own nationality's store segment.

I want my business plan, profit projections and 1-yr projected balance sheet to be as accurate as possible, so I am doing a lot of research beforehand. Any suggestions and help that anyone can give would be greatly appreciated. Also, any pitfalls that you might see that I had not considered would also be welcome.

Current working title for the store: Balikbayan Asian Market  

[robert angel]

Good name, and a good way to meet Filipinas! We don't have a purely Filipino store here, but even if we did, I think most Filipinos would shop at the assorted Asian stores out of convenience. Each store has a few things the others don't but even if that wasn't the case, I think they'd still shop around. 3000 square feet seems awfully large. I'd guess most stores here are half that size, stacked pretty tight though.

[AsphaltVoyager]

yeah, most of the Korean stores in Dallas are like that, too, and I never really enjoyed shopping in them for basically that reason. But, actually, 3000 sq ft is about the size of a 7-11, although not all of that is open to the public. Some is used for storage and cleaning materials. I might get by with something that's only 2000 sq. ft, but it would be a squeeze, I think. If I can attain startup costs of about $320k, I think the store can survive long enough to get a good reputation.

I'm not sure you live, Robert, but getting around in Dallas isn't as difficult as any of the California cities or the areas along the central eastern seaboard. There are plenty of 6-lane streets in the suburbs around Dallas and they're rarely choked with traffic. So, it's a little more convenient to get from place to place. Dallas is about 30 miles wide, more or less, when you include the suburbs on the east and west sides. But, locating on the Mesquite/Garland border area would be a good start, I believe.

[Dave H]

Hey AV,

Two of my friends recently closed their sari-sari stores in South Florida. Another large store/restaurant closed a few years ago. Plenty of Filipinos, just not enough business...many Filipinos adapt to American foods. Chinese stores usually have a large Filipino section. The Chinese are not afraid to undersell their competition and make very little profit, until they are forced to shut down. I could buy many varieties of rice at a Chinese market, that had rice of superior quality, fresher, and cheaper. But I usually bought from my Filipino friend out of loyalty. I could even buy San Miguel Beer cheaper in the large American and Spanish supermarkets. I think that you would have to depend on non-Filipino customers as well, Asian, Spanish, Indian, American, etc. to make it work.

Open a Jollibee franchise instead, get rich, and thank me later!   You will also make a lot of Filipinos happy!

Dave

[AsphaltVoyager]

Open a Jollibee franchise instead, get rich, and thank me later!   You will also make a lot of Filipinos happy!

Please forgive my ignorace, but I've never been to RP and have no clue what a Jollibee's is. Are we talking Chuck E. Cheese, but geared toward burgers instead?

[robert angel]

Jolilbees, the number one fastfood chain in the Philippines, is pretty much the Filipino answer to McDonalds. Over there, they are actually very similar. You can, and probably most people do, get rice or noodles instead of fries with their burgers and chicken and they each have their own dorky mascot, as seen above. And Dave's right, they're practically a mint to make money.

Their burgers have distinctive Asian names like 'The Champ' ha ha. Very exotic, no?

There are some Jollibees in the USA now-last time I checked, they were in N & S California,(about two dozen) as well as some in Nevada and New York. Someone told me they're in, or coming soon, to Florida as well.

A lot of the same fast food restaurants you see in the USA as well as donut shops, can be found in the Philippines. I don't know if Kenny Roger's Roasted Chicken Restaurants even exist in the USA anymore, but that's one of my wife's favorite places to eat in Davao, RP. We are poisoning them with saturated fat laden foods, although to be honest, some of the food in 'native dishes', especially the meat,  is chock full of fat that is too 'valuable' for them to consider throwing away. They don't waste much, but the diet isn't too heart healthy for a lot of folks there who can afford to put some meat on the table.

[AsphaltVoyager]

Hmm... : ( Makes me think too much of McJobs and the people who will work that kind of job. NOT exactly the business image I think of when I picture success. A bunch of unreliable late teens and 20-somethings with hardly any drive and still trying to sort out their own self-image... yeah, just what a fledgling business needs. 

[AsphaltVoyager]

Now that I think more on it... perhaps the crowded store thing is the way to go. It's what is common in the Phils, so... why not give them what they expect, right? Would feel more "homey".

[robert angel]

Regarding:

>>Hmm... : ( Makes me think too much of McJobs and the people who will work that kind of job. NOT exactly the business image I think of when I picture success. A bunch of unreliable late teens<<

In the Philippines, from what I've seen, the help in the malls and restaurants work very hard to ensure customer satisfaction. Jobs are just so very hard to get that they have to do well to keep them.

What is rather odd is in most restaurants, if they completely botched your meal--like it's a cold as ice steak, or carbonized pork chop--there's nothing you can do. You can't send it back to the kitchen, ask the for another one, etc. If you really want another one, you have to pay again and take your chances. Very weird, I know. Kanos may get around it rarely, but if you're from there, you're almost certainly out of luck.

[Dave H]

http://www.jollibee.com.ph/

Almost as good as printing your own money! In my city in the Philippines, I often have to eat at McDo because Jollibee (2 locations) is packed even off times! If I had the money, I would open one on the other side of town!!!

Seriously, Filipinos stores are a tough market, even without competition. Look into Jollibee!

Visit the Philippines first and learn about the culture...see for yourself! What Americans like doesn't always go over big with Filipinos...like tanning salons!

Dave

You will need at least 2 stories to seat everyone!




Lines can be long!



Everyone is happy!

[Jeff S]

I don't care who you are - now that there is Fuh-nee!

Tanning salons in the Philippines....

[AsphaltVoyager]

*sigh* Rather like refrigerated storage sold to eskimos.

Anyhow, had a long talk with my dad about the feasibility of opening a store that is going to cost me about $320k to get off the ground and stay open for a year and, in this economy, that's a pretty tall order... one that is just as likely to topple over as anything else.

So, looks like the Pinoy in Dallas will just have to fend for themselves for a few years more.

[Ray]

I would forget about Filipino stores for ever.

I live in a large Filipino community here in San Diego, and if I had a nickel for every Filipino store here that went under since I lived here, I would have enough to buy a round of San Miguels for the whole forum.

[michaelb]

So exactly who in Dallas do you expect to a Filipino store?........now, if you were to open a Fiesta or La Michoacana........ 

[AsphaltVoyager]

So exactly who in Dallas do you expect to a Filipino store?........now, if you were to open a Fiesta or La Michoacana........ 

Estimated population of Filipinos in Dallas is around 20k. It is a bit over 60k in Houston, but who wants to llive in Houston?? : ( Obviously, it's much higher than either of those #s in Lost Angels, but again... who wants to live in California? >:p

[thekfc]

Outside California, we (NYC) have the largest population of Filipinos with about 68K. And as Metro New York as a whole - the largest Filipino population on the east coast.

[Dave H]

Estimated population of Filipinos in Dallas is around 20k. It is a bit over 60k in Houston, but who wants to llive in Houston?? :

Hey AV,

Live in Dallas...put the Jollibee in Houston! Thank me in the morning! 

Dave

[AsphaltVoyager]

I think the franchising costs alone would preclude me opening a store of that size. Throw in the building or remodeling costs and... poof! -- no chance.

[Ray]

A note on Jollibee franchises in the US.

There are 3 Jollibees in San Diego and I regularly pass by or occasionally go in to 2 of them. From my personal observations, at least 99% of their customers are Filipino. Apparently, Americans just don’t have a taste for overpriced, sugar-laden, unhealthy junk food.

The employees are mostly all younger people of Filipino ancestry and most all speak at least passable Tagalog/Pilipino.

Jollibee here is never crowded, even after church on Sunday. Most of the time, you’d be extremely lucky to see a dozen customers in there at any given time. There are no lines at the counter.

IMO, you should figure that only Filipinos will visit a Jollibee here in the USA.

Same goes for Chow King... 99% Filipino customers. Red Ribbon isn’t much different.

If you want to eat free Peach Mango pies and get fat, start a Jollibee franchise. If you want to make money, start a Subway franchise.

The Filipino-oriented businesses here that seem to be making steady money include the large Filipino/Asian supermarkets and Filipino bakeries. It seems that almost every Filipino here eats pandesal on a regular basis, but only a few occasionally visit a Jollibee.

Ray

[robert angel]

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_U.S._cities_with_large_Filipino_American_populations

>>Filipino Americans are fairly widely spread around the United States. Still, there are a number of urban areas with large Filipino populations. Most notably, in Southern California, nearly 480,000 Filipinos (over one out of every four Filipino Americans) make their homes in the Los Angeles and San Diego areas in 2000. Los Angeles County holds the largest Filipino settlement in the United States, with over 262,600 members of the group, followed by San Diego County, with nearly 121,000 Filipinos. The Los Angeles-Riverside-Orange County Metropolitan Area has over 370,000 Filipinos. The city of Los Angeles alone contains well over 120,000 Filipinos, according to 2000 U.S. Census data.<<

Cold doesn't faze Filipinos--over 55,000 call Chicago's Cook County home and Minnesota has a big population also.

[robert angel]

If I wanted a franchise busiiness in the Philippines, my first choice would be Jollibeees, but it seems that there, as well as in  a lot of very different nations, Subways tend to do pretty good. In the RP, Pizza Hut seems to do well, but the pizza business can be extra risky anywhere.

It is weird how Filipino stores in the USA never seem to last. Seems to me that Filipinos will shop at a number of different Asian stores, getting what's best at any given one. We don't shop Asian stores for seafood very much.