Pop goes the business

In the beginning was a popcorn kernel. And the kernel became a thriving business.

It’s incredible how great things turned out for Taters Enterprises president Ana Maria Tanchanco. In ‘92, Tanchanco was supposed to be in a parade to herald the opening of her franchise, but the Mt. Pinatubo eruption cast menacing, gray ash-clouds over the whole shebang. "We even had a motorcade and a mascot (laughs)," she recalls. "And we were going, ‘What the hell is happening here?’ We had no electricity. We had to pull strings in order for someone to climb the Meralco post to make sure there was power for the inauguration, but we managed to open the restaurant, anyway."

Even if things didn’t turn out well in her first business venture, Tanchanco was undaunted. Two years later, she found herself managing the first Taters outlet, a cramped 8.5-square meter stall at the Greenbelt Cinema Square selling flavored popcorn, fries and roasted peanuts.

"My kids and I love watching movies and eating junk food," Tanchanco says. "Tater’s was an accident. It wasn’t planned. I just wondered how come big businesses never saw the moviehouse as an important location. I bought a fryer and started experimenting in my kitchen until a space was made available in Greenbelt."

In those days, the only establishments beside cinemas were glorified sari-sari stores selling potato chips as bloated as Tom Cruise’s paycheck, sandwiches as old as the Vampire Lestat, as well as a disarray of gums, nuts, candies, etc. There was no system, no uniforms and no store name for these concessionaires. And the movie-going public had no choice. She remembers vividly how things turned out on Taters’ Day One.

"I went to the stall at 8 in the morning with a sack, and we were ready to fry," Tanchanco enthuses. "Since Day One, we were frying a hundred kilos of fries a day. People were lining up for our products. And we were able to come up with three types of snacks – peanuts, popcorn and French fries in Taters’ original flavor."

Tanchanco used to import flavored powders from the States and blend them in the kitchen. She would mix spices and seasoning to come up with new combo flavors such as cheese & bacon, nacho cheese and sour cream, which was a rare flavor (except for Pringles potato chips) back then. Over the years, she has worked with local companies in coming up with different dips and sauces for Taters. But that didn’t stop her from tweaking with the products, sometimes to the consternation of brand managers.

"What Taters has going for it is originality," she shares. "A lot of local businesses fail because they’re so easy to duplicate. That’s their dilemma. So, they end up forming their business and then selling them eventually. I think people will come to you for a certain taste. I make sure that everything in Taters has a touch of something different – except bottled water and sodas (laughs)."

During Taters’ early years, Tanchanco manned the store herself, serving customers to gauge their preference – which she would soon discover is usually a pack of hot and crispy snacks (potato chips, fries, popcorn, whatever – as long as they’re hot and crispy).

"Before, snack machines had only light bulbs to keep the popcorn warm. But they don’t keep the product crunchy. What it needs is hot air. So, we bought dish dryers. We made stainless baskets and put our popcorn inside them. Our machines didn’t look enticing, but they actually worked. Eventually we were able to buy turbo roasters (to keep our snacks hot and crispy)."

Ten years later, Taters has become a movie-house favorite. Many people even mistake Taters for an All-American joint (maybe it has something to do with its baseball logo, which conjures images of ballparks, homers and hot popcorn). It has even opened franchises in various malls in Metro Manila (Glorietta 4, Alabang Town Center, Robinsons Place Manila, Robinsons Galleria), Cebu (Ayala Center Cebu) and Bacolod (Robinsons Place Bacolod). In 2002, Taters Enterprises put up Chimara Neo-Vegan Café, which offers delicious veggie fare. Tanchanco also set up a management-training program for her employees. ("In the long run, the best investment in an establishment that deals with service is people-development," she shares.) Her thrust next year is to develop Taters as a fast-food joint outside the cinema.

"We’re offering new sandwiches, dips and toppings. We’re also finding new ways of serving customers," Tanchanco says, adding that it is very important to be a pacesetter all the time. "The food business is never simple," she shares. "It’s the hardest business to maintain."

To celebrate its 10th anniversary, Taters will be having the Decada Awards on Aug. 24, 6 p.m. at the Glorietta Activity Center. The event is in honor of Taters’ 10 years in the business, 10 top-grossing movies and 10 of its outstanding business partners. To be cited are flicks such as Star Wars, The Lord of the Rings and Harry Potter; business partners from Ayala, Nestlé and Pepsi; along with the Taters Customer of the Decade (Nicky Price).

As for those critics who throw rhetorical stones at fast-food joints like Taters, Tanchanco has this to say:

"When you think of snacks you associate them with unhealthy food. But what we do is come up with less evil alternatives, such as using corn oil. We are always committed to serve the market. We could make popcorn at half the cost, using very cheap coconut oil and cheap flavoring. We could load it up with MSG. We could make more money, margin-wise, but we won’t be doing society any good. We have a commitment to the public."