Is There a Market for Higher-Priced Healthy Snack?. . . Enter Yoghurt

Health Frozen Yoghurt @ AFFI Franchise show

At the AFFI Filipino Franchise Show at the World Trade Center, there was only one booth displaying Yoghurt called the Healthy Frozen Yoghurt.

Part of the Group that owns Black Pearl, Frutas, Lush and Mango Farm, the booth watchers were quite mum about details of the new franchise.  Sorry I cannot share anything much, just one pic.

Technoluz supplies Taylor Soft Serve to Jollibee

Technolux sells USA-made Taylor  Soft serve Ice Cream machine and they also can supply powder to make Frozen Yoghurt.

You might want to check out both ways of going into the yoghurt business.  Be aware pricing per serving is higher and so your Target Market must really want its health benefits as well as the typical yoghurt taste to pay the price.




For those interested in going into the Lotto Outlet business, I offer a One-on-One Consultation on How to Set-up and Operate Your Own Lotto Outlet.  Topics will include Site Selection, The Proper Way to Apply with the PCSO, How Much to Set-up a Lotto Outlet, Actual Operations, How to Attract Lotto Players, Hiring The Right Lotto Operator and How to Protect Your Business from Fraud and many many more.  I will share with you my Actual Experiences as a Lotto Agent.  My fee is only P2,000 per head.


   If you are interested in availing of my Lotto Consultation, you may text me at 0922-8831225 for details. See ya guys.
By the way, I would like to invite you to visit my Sulit Homepage as there are some business opportunities that you guys might be able to help me out with.  If you are interested, just click the Sulit Logo below:

All-Time Favorite Ice Cream: Miguelito's Soft Serve & Fried Ice Cream

Miguelito Ice Cream @ AFFI Filipino Franchise Show

The Miguelito's International Corp. (Tel 822-5028) is a multi-concept franchise company dealing in noodles, donuts, vanilla ice pearl etc but they are best known for their Soft-serve ice cream at quite affordable prices ranging from P10 for a choco dip soft serve ice cream to P35 for a Lover's Delight.

I believe just like siomai and hotdogs, ice cream has long-term appeal to kids and adults alike.

Franchise package

      Soft serve ice cream            P350,000

      Fried Ice Cream                  P300,000  (New concept can be seen at SM MOA)

Miguelito's Ice Cream Menu board with affordable prices

The Franchise package includes Site Assistance (very valuable), Training, Initial Stocks (does not say how much), Opening Assistance with Mascot, machine and equipment.

Look for Ms Maricel Rebullido, Franchise Consultant, and tell her you got her tel from Richard Joseph Siy blog.

WHAT TO WATCH OUT FOR?

1.  Do not be on the same floor where Selecta, Nestle or Magnolia conduct their promotional samplings  offering ice cream at P5 per scoop (You're dead)

2.  Watch out for Fast-food chains that offer ice cream like Mang Inasal when they first intro Pinoy Ice Cream at P10 per scoop.

The above was what I believed caused the Milko ice cream stand to pull-out from our mall after about 2 years of operation.



For those interested in going into the Lotto Outlet business, I offer a One-on-One Consultation on How to Set-up and Operate Your Own Lotto Outlet.  Topics will include Site Selection, The Proper Way to Apply with the PCSO, How Much to Set-up a Lotto Outlet, Actual Operations, How to Attract Lotto Players, Hiring The Right Lotto Operator and How to Protect Your Business from Fraud and many many more.  I will share with you my Actual Experiences as a Lotto Agent.  My fee is only P2,000 per head.


   If you are interested in availing of my Lotto Consultation, you may text me at 0922-8831225 for details. See ya guys.
By the way, I would like to invite you to visit my Sulit Homepage as there are some business opportunities that you guys might be able to help me out with.  If you are interested, just click the Sulit Logo below:

2010 SME & Franchise Expo: Soft Serve Ice Cream with Chocolate Rainbow Stripe !!!

  During the recent SME & Franchise Expo at the World Trade Center, I came across the booth of Judea Enterprises and they showed a Soft Serve Ice Cream Machine that had the capability of adding a stripe of say chocolate (or any flavor) to the usual Soft Serve Ice Cream.

    With this Rainbow Function (Striped Flavor), you could charge a little more for customers (read Kids) who want to add a stripe of Chocolate to the Vanilla Ice Cream.  (Mr Softy and Snowpy do not have this feature).



  The machine cost P155,000 (versus the USA-made Taylor Machine of P375,000 used by Jollibee for their Sundaes) and Judea also sells the powder mixes for the soft serve ice cream and the Rainbow stripe flavorings.

If you want to request for further information, send me a message or comment on the above post, please kindly click the "comment" button below this post.

As a NEW FEATURE ON MY NEW BLOG, I am conducting a Reader Survey on "What You Think Is The Hottest Small Business in Manila today". On the Top Right part of this blog is my Survey Poll. Please click your choice as the Best Small Business in Manila and then click "Vote" button.

To see the results of the survey todate, just click the “Show Result” button

Scramble Wars: From Lugaw to Scramble???

Everybody is jumping into the Scramble bandwagon. Do you think mag-Flop LATER ON JUST LIKE THE PEAK OF ZAGU/ORBITZ/QUICKLY till only Zagu and a few Quickly outlets are left????


(courtesy of scramble loco. NOTICE THE LUGAW REPUBLIC SIGNAGE ON TOP)

Seen at the Food and Drinks Asia 2010 Expo at the World Trade Center, Lugaw Republic, best known in the malls as sellers of what-else Lugaw, displayed their version of Scramble called Scramble Loco.



I tasted the product and ok naman, almost like Icebreaker on the milky side. Their style is to put the syrup (chocolate, I think) along the side of the empty cup in a spiral way before the strawberry mix is added. (Icebreaker, Scramble King and everybody else puts the syrup on top of the strawberry mix)

Trying to be creative but it takes too long to serve the order because of the need to artfully spiral the syrup by turning the cup on one hand while squeezing the syrup bottle with the other hand. Not very efficient if you have a long line/

Don't Just Rely on Signages. Use the Power of Word-Of-Mouth

(courtesy of safetysign.com)

Imagine being relocated from a very high-traffic part of the Mall to a virtual DEAD ZONE and you can imagine the anxiety and worry that I went through when that just happened to my Lotto Outlet just last week.

To top it all, there are about 5 or 6 other lotto outlets within spitting distance (5o meters or less) from where I was located. The new site is exactly 80 steps (50 meters) away from my high-traffic site.

I knew my lotto customers will not be able to find me as they got used to just seeing my lotto outlet just upon entering the mall.

I placed a Tarp signage (in Bright Yellow background and Blue "Lotto" word across it) but only a handful saw the sign during our first 7 days and you know what brought my loyal lotto customers back , it was WORD-OF-MOUTH, to wit:

1. I stood on my old site and started giving out PCSO Lotto Playcards for them to place their bets and directed (escorted) them to my site;

2. The sales personnel of former

neighboring tenants who also pointed my lotto customers in the right direction;

3. Security Roving Guards also played a prominent role as many lotto customers asked the guards where my lotto outlet is now located;

4. And like a snowball effect, those lotto customers who were fortunate to find my lotto outlet during the crucial first 5 days also spread the word to their neighbors and friends who were also my lotto customers.

Signages are good but nothing like going out there and talking to your loyal lotto customers.

How Do You Sustain Interest in the One-flavor Scramble?

With so many brands of Scramble (and with different spellings) but all having the same Strawberry flavor, am concerned about the following:

1. Will not the customers tire of it? (Even Zagu has had to come out with a steady stream of flavors though cookies n cream, chocolate and buko pandan remain the bestsellers)

2. The add-ons try to differentiate but overall, it is still the same taste and add-ons bring the price closer to P20 or more (or just P10 shy of Zagu Baby Z)

3. Would it impact negatively if one was to change the strawberry base to chocolate?

4. Would changing the milk powder sprinkle to another ingredient make it different?

5. How about offering a premium scramble with brownie toppings?

With All Scramble Makers Offering the Same Strawberry Flavor, Will Customers Tire of It?

They may have different toppings or Add-ons but they all have the same strawberry base. My questions are:

1. Will scramble eaters tire of it BY OFFERING ONLY ONE FLAVOR FOREVER?

2. Will offering different flavors like chocolate kill the product or extend its customer base? (Zagu started with a few flavors but started offering In-flavors like Cookies N Cream and it was a hit bestseller)

3. Or, will the low pricing for SRP preclude any additional flavors? (I came across a blog on the Scramble outlet that no longer offers the P5 cup)

4. Will going to the P30 level be bad for scramble or bad for Zagu?

5. The Teen market are faddish and finicky. How do we sustain consumer interests?

Yuppie Market presents The Scramble Clone Wars

If my post title sounds Luke Skywalker-ish, it is because I am a Star Wars fan and I especially liked the original versions--Star Wars, the Empire Strikes Back.

During the WOFEX 2010, there is this company called Ferna Corporation, a supplier of food ingredients. I understand from the Ferna Saleperson that they can provide the food ingredients to make your own Zagu or Scramble. In fact she showed me a bag of strawberry powder.


Chef Ronald of the Ferna Morning show was on hand fielding questions from a big crowd of would-be small business owners about products to sell using Ferna's food ingredients.


(Ferna's range of products from soft serve ice cream --think Mr softy, etc, shake powder -- think Zagu?, and other food powders-- Do-It-Yourself Scramble)

While it can be said that there is nothing like getting the original franchise (Icebreaker Scramble, Buzzbox Scramble, Scramble King) as presumably they have the system in place, some questions come to mind:

1. Wont the Scramble buyers get so tired with seeing so many brands of scrambles (both good-taste and bland-taste)?

2. Since Scramble has basic components, can't outfits like Ferna concoct the taste of any Scramble-type and copy it in a way that the customer can no longer differentiate? (Filipinos are known to be good copycats OUCH!)

3. Packaging will spell the difference but as I wrote in a previous blog post, Icebreaker Scramble and Scramble King have similar product and packaging appearances (http://wp.me/pBaHK-9F)

4. From the side of the cannot-afford small business owner, does it make business-sense to forgo the P200,000 franchise fee and have Ferna make your own Scramble and then, get a professional printer with a good graphic artist create a drop-dead bad-ass kind of packaging to wow the scramble crowd?

I might be inclined to get the Market leader of the Scramble craze based on taste, market reach which correlates to market promotion, quality of organization, efficiency of logistics and lastly, profit margin for me.

It is no easy thing to make your own product and brand but what if you cannot swing the high cost of entry of the franchisor?


I hope you guys reading this can send me your comments. See ya! http://wp.me/pBaHK-9F

Earn Extra Money: The Invasion of The Clones and other Look-Alikes

For those who want a Zagu franchise but can't quite swing the P300,000 plus plus investment, I saw at the Wofex 2010a supplier of tapioca pearls (sago in tagalog) and similar sealing machine as used by Zagu. In fact, the sample they had on display of a Pearl Shake plastic glass had the Zagu trademark Yellow/Black and the picture is of a pacman game icon.



There were the usual assortment of siomai franchises as the pic shows with a package of P88,888 (Lucky numbers) versus P250,000 of the leading brand Siomai House who was not on exhibit (goes to show they do not need the exposure).

Master Siomai was there. Henlin, who during their peak years never joined such expos, was there. Siomai House is now everywhere. Siomai House is killing all other siomai sellers in the SM and Robinsons Malls.

The Scramble Wars Rages On: Scramble King

Just attended the Wofex 2010 World Food Expo and I saw the booth of the Scramble King.

The owner of Scramble King missed a Golden Opportunity by not paying for a space in the Main Hall of the World Trade Center. As it were, they were located at the WTC Annex Tent that among the publications would you believe (Inquirer, Summit Publishing etc) unseen by the main visitor crowds. They could have gotten a lot of queries. Oh well.

My take on the Scramble King:

1.Their franchise package is pricey ranging from a full booth (2meter wide maybe) at P198,000 to a stand (1m wide maybe) for P75,000.

2. They claim to have 20plus outlets mostly in Tarlac and other provinces but will open in Manila in August, 2010.

3. Pricing and size of serving is exactly Icebreaker Scramble style (P7, P10, P17)

4. Of the Non-Icebreaker Scrambles, Scramble King is the most similar to the Icebreaker Scramble in terms of visual product appearance, preparation and even packaging.





5. The Syrups used are the same color and laid-out on top of the strawberry ice base just like Icebreaker Scramble.

6. I bought a P17 cup (pic above is what they actually served me). When compared to Icebreaker Scramble, the Scramble King tasted Icy or sherbet-like unlike the Icebreaker which was creamy, fluffy like whipped cream and had much much better mouth-feel.

7. I like the Icebreaker Scramble taste but others may prefer a sherbet taste.

When I asked the Scramble King guy what is the difference between Scramble King and Icebreaker Scramble, he answered with a short "ICEBREAKER SCRAMBLE WAS FIRST".

FOR READERS OF THE INQUIRER Aug 6, 2010 issue TODAY , THERE IS AN ARTICLE BY NED ROBERTO ABOUT AL RIES, MARKETING GURUS BOTH OF THEM, SAYING THE IMPORTANCE OF BEING FIRST OVER BEING BETTER. BUT WHAT IF YOU COULD BE FIRST AND BETTER???????????????

Business Opportunity: Snowpy Soft Ice Cream - Cheap and Fun

If your Target Market is the Lower B, C and D consumers and you are looking for a product that a C & D family of 5 can afford, Snowpy Soft Ice Cream seems to be a good choice for a small business.

Product Line and Price range are as follows:

1. Plain cone P7

2. Sugar-cone P9 (saleable)

3. Wafer with choco P10 (saleable)

4. Cup with Choco Topping P18 (saleable)

5. Cup Plain with syrup P12

Slow days are Monday to Thursday while peak is Friday to Sunday.