“Wow, ang saya dito ah! Sana kanina pa tayo nandito.” (Hey, it’s fun here! We should have been here earlier.)

Such was the comment of my nephew yesterday afternoon when we went to Holy Cross Memorial Park in Novaliches, Quezon City. It was already November 2, All Souls’ Day, and although most Filipinos flock to the cemeteries on November 1 (All Saints’ Day) to visit the graves of their dead family members, still a lot of people went that day. Proof was that it was bumper-to-bumper traffic on the way to Holy Cross yesterday afternoon, and even inside the memorial park, it took 30 minutes to drive from the gate to the mausoleum area.

There were thousands of people in the memorial park, and while most of them brought baon, a lot of them also checked out the various food stalls nearby. We spotted kiosks of Andok’s, Shakey’s, Greenwich, Mr. Softy ice cream, Seattle’s Best, Zagu, and even TGI Friday’s. There were also siomai stalls, barbeque stalls, and so much more spread all over the park. My nephews and nieces had their own ‘gimik’ checking out the food stalls.

Shakey’s even went out of their way to send out their staff to ask people if they want some pizza delivered right at their, er, family gravesite. My mother ordered pizza, gave her senior’s ID (for the senior citizen’s discount), then received the pizza piping hot in 30 minutes.

These food companies knew that the market would be at the cemeteries that weekend, and made preparations to be right there. “On the practical side of things, each (food chain) branch has a certain sales target to achieve so each will try to tap into each and every sales avenue,” says marketing professional Arlyn Onte, MBA graduate of De La Salle University and faculty member of DLSU-College of St. Benilde. “It is imperative for every branch to have its market scan inasmuch as a branch situated beside a church should adjust its manpower based on the church schedule, or a food kiosk beside a cinema should be ready when people come out of the theater, so events such as November 1 should be anticipated. Convenience is the key. One can no longer expect the consumer to walk to your store. You should be where the consumer is.”

Do you want to increase your sales? Go where the market is.