On May 13, Mr. Dagupeño owner Eric Montoya recalled resigning from his job to pursue his passion for business.
In an interview with Montoya, the businessman revealed his day job as a Territory Saleshead before pursuing the business of Mr. Dagupeño.
“I was Territory Saleshead of BPI-PhilAm probably they’re the largest–they call it bank assurance company no. Bank assurance is you sell insurance doon sa loob ng bangko. I was handling 1500 people– managers, sales agents. When I left –half of their workforce, I was the sales manager of that.”
He then shared the struggles he and his wife Katherine faced when they started the business.
“So when I left BPI-PhilAm, I found myself eventually mga a week or after, nagrerelyeno sa alas onse ng gabi. Sabi ko, ‘ano ba ‘tong ginawa ko sa buhay ko.
“Nasa corner office ako noong umalis ako sa Makati, although ‘yung kasiyahan ko talaga ay nasa negosyo, masaya akong hindi naka-necktie ngayon, masaya akong naka-polo shirt lang.
“Eventually, maraming hirap rin po sa pag-uumpisa, maraming challenge talaga. So there were sleepless nights po, when we were trying to expand po, because we wanted to do it as fast as we can no.”
He acknowledged that pursuing Mr. Dagupeño was a financial risk, but he and his wife Katherine pushed through and expanded the business quickly.
“When we left our jobs, we left a lucrative compensation doon eh, so we really took a risk to expand this in such level na okay lang kung umalis tayo doon, kasi okay naman itong business natin.”
However, he and his wife would encounter another pitfall with the pandemic.
“2020, that’s when we were poised to really expand no, kasi 2019 parang trial pa lang namin. Noong 2020, mayroon na kaming membership with AFFI ‘yung Association of Filipino Franchisers Inc., mag-aano sana sila, mag-e-expo sa World Trade (Center), kasama sana kami doon kaya lang ‘yung pandemic nangyari po so nabura lahat ‘yun.”
Thankfully, their business model of the curbside pickup was already tailor-made for the pandemic.
“Akala namin like all businesses maraming nagsara, sa amin syempre may kaba din doon na baka lahat affected pero we found out na pwede gumana sa pandemic because pick up lang siya, sa counter lang siya.
“‘Yung nauso ‘yung curbside pick na sinasabi nila nung mga restaurant, kumbaga kami matagal na kaming curb side pick up di ba? Ganon talaga ‘yung concept namin, gumana siya and what we did was strengthen pa ‘yung features na nakapagpagana sa kanya sa pandemic.”
Mr. Dagupeño’s business model helped it thrive during the pandemic and resulted in its expansion.
“After noong lockdown, ‘yung strict lockdown, that’s when we continued franchising, kasi even more mas okay pa ‘yung value for positioning namin kasi ‘yung mga gusto mag business na parang naisip nila na parang ang hirap ngayon ah, hindi pwede pa rin kasi may ganitong business model, which is ‘yung take out lang. So ‘yun po ‘yung kwento namin.”
As for the franchising of their Dagupan Bangus centered business Mr. Dagupeño, interested parties can reach them at 02-7116-1323 or through misterdagupeno@gmail.com. They also have their Facebook and Instagram pages at facebook.com/mr.dagupeno and https://www.instagram.com/mr.dagupeno/
