An export winner in the making

Leticia Ocampo-Belarmino began making young coconut or buco pies in 1976 as a hobby.

"At that time, my children were all going to school and I had time on my hands," she said. "I decided to experiment with the buco pie, which was then popularized by the Pahid family in tandem with the wives of some American professors based in UP Los Baños."

It took six boxes of perfected pies given to family and friends before Ocampo-Belarmino decided to go into business. She had her kitchen oven, P200 worth of raw materials, and a rented stall along a road leading to UPLB. The product was marketed by word of mouth.

Today, Lety’s is on the verge of becoming an exporter, with an initial shipment of 22,000 boxes of blast-frozen buco pies to a Singapore-based company with presence in Singapore, Malaysia, and China this December.

"We are still looking for a consolidator who is willing to share the space of the reefer van with us," said Lety’s president Ignacio Belarmino.

Another possible foot in the export market is the company’s participation in the four-month Asian Food and Drinks Show in Japan, which also starts this December. "It was through a similar show–the 2002 Asian Ethnic Food Show organized by the Center for International Trade, Expositions and Missions–that we met our Singapore-based customer. He tasted our product and he saw its money-making potential abroad," said Belarmino

Production

Lety’s is ranked among the current market leaders in the predominantly Laguna-based buko pie industry, with an average daily production run of about 400 pies during weekdays and 800 pies. Production increases to 600 pies during weekdays during summer and the Christmas season.

While the classic buco pie is the best-seller, the company has also ventured into buco variants that use durian, lychee, and pandan as well as other pie products such as cassava, ube, and carrot cake.

"It was our daughter-in-law, Aries Belarmino, who suggested the idea. After all, our customers might like to try something else," said Belarmino. "We produce and market these other products during weekends."

Aside from stalls along the highway of Los Baños, Lety’s has outlets beside the Plaza Agapita Lopez Ave. and the Shell gas station, both in Los Baños, as well as food carts in SM Megamall and in Glorietta, both in Metro Manila. The company also maintains a buying station at Barasoain St. near Zapote St., Makati where bulk orders can be taken and dropped. The orders can either be delivered or picked up by customers.

The pies sell for P80 in Los Baños, P90 in the bulk buying store in Makati, and P100 in Megamall and Glorietta.

Government support

"A key element in the company’s growth is the technical, marketing and financial support that we have gotten from government agencies. We were very determined to work with these agencies despite their rigid requirements," said Belarmino.

One such requirement for potential exporters is the repackaging of the company’s boxes to make them stand out on the frozen food shelves abroad. The company invested P6,500 for a new design by the Packaging Research and Development Center of the Department of Science and Technology.

"They asked us all sorts of question such as what colors we wanted on the box," said Ocampo-Belarmino. "We were consulted all the way and we are very happy with the way our boxes have turned out. You can’t miss them. And every time I see our boxes being carried by customers in Los Baños or in the malls, I get a lift."

The box is not only colorful to reflect the tropics, it also incorporates the nutritional analysis and the product’s assigned bar code. It was also the DoST which suggested the use of aluminum pie plates for the local market and microwavable plates for the export market.

Financing

To prepare itself for the export market, Lety’s has renovated and redesigned its production area to conform with the requirements of the Bureau of Food and Drugs and the standards set of GMP (Good Manufactuirng Practices) such as screening the exposed roof and wall sides with plastic screens (to prevent pests and flying insects from coming in), covering the cement flooring with ceramic tiles for easy cleaning, and repositioning the major baking equipment to assure a smoother work flow and thus improve overall production efficiency.

"Through DoST’s Small Enterprises Technology-Upgrading Program, we were able to borrow from the Technology Application and Promotion Institute to buy such major equipment such as a 10-kilo dough kneader, the dough roller which can handle 50 pies per setting, a blast freezer and a storage freezer," said Belarmino.

The company’s building and equipment add up to an investment of P2.5 million, of which P1 million was sourced from DoST. A commercial loan of P580,000 was used to purchase delivery vans.

Clearly, Lety’s had been doing its homework on how to succeed as an exporter.