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SOMEWHERE in Binondo, in an upstairs room, mami noodles are still made fresh the old way every day. Dough is made from flour, water and egg, and kneaded with the use of a long rolling pin--so long in fact that you can ride on one end literally, which is what the workers at that restaurant, Masuki, do every day. Willen Ma, who oversees this family business started by her father in the sixties, says they call the rolling pin kabayo, the Filipino word for horse, since workers have to ride that long rolling pin to knead the dough. Why have they not upgraded to a more modern way of doing things? Willen says this old-style method is what gives their mami noodles the makunat texture. "If we do it by machine, they will come out with a fine texture. Customers can tell the difference. Lagot kami." Some 200 kilos of mami noodles are made here every day at Masuki, and these are sliced by machine after the kneading with the kabayo. The noodles are served at Masuki restaurants in Binondo and Greenhills, and are also supplied to institutional customers. It has been more than 40 years and Masuki is still around. Willen, named one of the inspiring women entrepreneurs by GoNegosyo, says their secrets just boil down to the quality of food and service. The menu is still the same, and they make sure the mami, asado chicken, tai pao, siomai, and siopao remain consistent in quality. And they plan to uphold the same consistent quality of food throughout the coming years. So if that means still doing the kneading kabayo-style, then kabayo-style it is. Some things you don't just change.

WOMEN the world over have been keeping a fashionable secret for so long now. Well it’s not really so much a secret that only a few people know about it. The fact is, thousands of women have been quietly buying online a self-adhesive backless and strapless brassiere called NuBra. It is made of silicone and with adhesive, sticks to skin well so it’s not a problem to wear clothes that are backless or are more revealing up front. Hollywood celebrities have been patronizing NuBra, and even Oprah Winfrey endorsed it. While there are a few resellers of NuBra online, one reseller particularly stands out. Digital Web Group, Inc., which runs three e-commerce stores exclusively selling Nubra (www.nubra.net, www.nu-bra.com, and www.siliconeworks.com), sells the most and is topmost in search engines. According to Fil-Am Diana Limjoco, one of GoNegosyo’s most inspiring entrepreneurs and one of the founders of Digital Web Group, “Revenue from the NuBra alone is about $500K annually. We do not advertise and sales come only from search engine placement and word of mouth. Also occasionally, a magazine, newspaper and TV show will feature the bra.” The group started selling one style of NuBra in 2002. Now there are three styles being sold on their websites. “We use a professional e-commerce cart (www.searchfit.com), which allows one to use just one control panel for many stores), and accept all credits cards as well as PayPal, Google Checkout, checks and money order,” says Limjoco. Customers can view photos of the product online, click “Buy now,” and by putting in the country code and address, the cart will automatically estimate the shipping fees. They ship globally. Online selling is highly competitive, so what is the secret to their success? Limjoco says, “Our placement ranks high in search engines and NuBra is a unique one of a kind patented product. Although many knock-offs have come and gone, no one has been able to duplicate the special self-healing adhesive. We have good customer support and it’s easy for people to buy from our store with most major credit cards, PayPal and Google Checkout. We answer e-mail from customers in a timely fashion. Also, we ship as soon as we get the order and if it’s a shipper cut off, we ship the next day.” Limjoco offers eight tips for those seeking success in online sales: 1. Do your market research. “We did research before we sold NuBra and found only one other store selling online. Since we had no competition to speak of, we went for it,” says Limjoco. 2. Have your online store named as close as possible to what you are selling. Aside from NuBra, Digital Web Group also sells motorcycle speakers online at www.motorcyclespeakers.net. 3. Make sure your store is on the first page of Google or Yahoo search for the item you are selling. 4. Buy the .com and .net address of your store to keep competition from buying the name and competing with you. 5. Make it easy for customers to buy. Provide customer support. Answer e-mail queries within hours if possible. “We have made many sales by having an agent e-mail back within minutes!” adds Limjoco. 6. Get a good credit card processor, professional shopping cart, and PayPal, which now accepts payments from customers in the Philippines. 7. Put prices and cost of shipping next to the product. Limjoco tried buying at Multiply sites, but found that most sellers do not put prices and cost of shipping on their websites. “This means I have to write to someone to get the cost and shipping. As an avid online shopper myself, I will not usually bother to do this. I will just move on to someone else where I can pay online and shipping costs are estimated online as well,” says Limjoco. 8. Ship goods in a timely fashion once you get an order.

A TOTAL of three—that was the number of enrollees R. A. Gapuz Review Center (RAGRC) had back in 1994 when they opened, offering review classes for those taking government board exams. But this did not deter founder Ray Gapuz from persevering in his then newly established business. Nowadays, their number of enrollees are in the thousands, so much so, that review and coaching sessions have to be scheduled in hotel ballrooms, mall cinemas and even big events places such as the Philippine International Convention Center and Araneta Coliseum. And get this—review classes are also beamed via satellite to other venues in the country. Of course, online review courses are also offered. Today RAGRC is the market leader among nursing review centers, getting the lion's share of 40 percent of the market among 55 documented review centers, according to its website. Just how did RAGRC succeed? Josiah Go, marketing guru and chairman of Mansmith and Fielders, Inc., points to market-driving strategies applied by the company. “Market-driving strategies define how a firm will embrace innovative changes in the industry logic and business system to grow its profit and industry’s demand from marginal and non-customers,” says Go. To do this, innovations may be implemented in the value proposition (what the company may offer customers), the business system, or both. Here are steps RAGRC took to succeed: 1. Give a new value proposition by: - Offering an intensive 10-day review course at 8 hours a day aside from the traditional 6-month review course at 3 times a week. The shorter review course allows nursing graduates to find work while providing RAGRC faster turnaround. - Holding review classes in hotels and malls instead of cramped classrooms. - Presenting the curriculum according to diseases regardless of age to remove any duplication encountered when doing it by specialization. This is well appreciated by the reviewees. 2. Innovate the business system by: - Going high tech and livening up review classes by holding it game show style and offering stimulating card games as reinforcement. This prevents boredom from setting in. Market-driving strategies are all about changing the rules of the game in order to attract new demand. They may just be what your company needs to be profitable and stay profitable. Josiah Go is conducting a seminar dubbed "Market-Driving Strategies: Executive Workout" on June 25-26 in Makati City and on July 14-15 in Cebu City. E-mail info@mansmith.net for details.

IT is impossible for anyone who has been to Angeles City in Pampanga at one time or another to miss the Nepo Mall or Holy Angel University, or not use up electricity from the Angeles Electric Corporation (AEC), which supplies power to Angeles City as well as parts of the Clark Special Economic Zone. There is one family behind all these: the Nepomucenos. A well-researched book by UST professor Erlita P. Mendoza called A Cofradia of Two: Oral History on the Family Life and Lay Religiosity of Juan D. Nepomuceno and Teresa G. Nepomuceno of Angeles, Pampanga reveals the story of how that family changed the face of Angeles. Juan was a lawyer while Teresa, although having finished only third grade due to poor health, had business acumen. They had 12 children. The couple started an ice plant, the Angeles Ice Plant (later renamed Teresa Ice Plant), in 1921 at a time when hardly anyone owned a refrigerator. When Teresa saw that there was unused space in the ice-making machine, she made ice drops and sold them in strawberry and grape flavors. The empty milk cans (milk was used for making ice drops) were recycled and Teresa put them in baskets and sold them in the market. Wanting to provide electricity to the church, the couple established a power plant, later renamed Angeles Electric Corporation, using P500 borrowed from Teresa’s mother to start the business. This was in 1923 and P500 was already a fortune that time. In 1928, they started a soft drinks plant, making their own “Reina” and “Aurora” soft drinks, and also made burlap sacks which were then sold to sugar and rice producers. Holy Angel Academy (now Holy Angel University) was put up in 1933 by Juan and a parish priest to provide quality affordable education to Kapampangans. The war and a fire after Liberation affected their businesses, but the couple bounced back. Although the soft drinks plant was not revived, the power plant was rebuilt, and the school was reopened. In 1965, the family converted their agricultural land into a subdivision, calling it Villa Teresa. Three years later, Nepo Mart Commercial Complex was established and was known as the place to go for PX goods. Now there’s Nepo Mall with department stores, cinemas, banks – name it, they have it. Just one family started all these. Mendoza’s profile of the couple shows the Nepomucenos’ secrets to success: the ability to identify a need, proper timing in providing that need, hard work and perseverance, with faith in God. Good formula. *A Cofradia of Two published by Holy Angel University Press is available at National Bookstore (SM North EDSA and Quezon Avenue), Solidaridad Bookshop, Tradewinds, Lopez Museum, and Filipinas Heritage Library. It won a National Book Award from the Manila Critics Circle in 2005.

FOODIES know that the best cakes can be ordered not from commercial bakeshops, but from little home bakeshops run by young moms, where you need to order a day or two in advance and pick up your order yourself. These are specialty cakes with rich fresh ingredients which can give hotels a run for their money. One such bakeshop is Taza Platito. Owned by Tina Concepcion-Diaz, Taza Platito (which means cup and saucer in Filipino) has been serving up cake orders since 1991 to individuals and corporate clients—caterers and cafes included. After graduating from Ateneo with a degree in communication arts, Tina realized she didn’t see herself entering the broadcasting industry. But one thing she knew was that she liked baking and cooking. And so she enrolled in courses taught by gurus Sylvia Reynoso Gala, Dorothy Ferreira and Heny Sison. After learning the basics, she went on to experiment and made her own product line. She borrowed P5,000 from her dad to buy ingredients and equipment like baking pans and a handheld mixer, used their oven at home, and opened for business out of the family home. From Christmas gift orders from friends and family, Taza Platito’s business grew over the years. “At the start I was doing everything—baking, doing the grocery, delivery, everything,” says Tina. Now she has two people working for her. Tina started supplying pastries and cakes to restaurants in 1993 and from her earnings was able to save up for a bigger oven. Tina got married in 1994 and continued Taza Platito as a home business. “I consider myself a mom foremost than a businesswoman. With my business based at home, I still have time for my son,” she says. In fact, Tina finds time to bring her son to and from school on most days, hold a full-time job as managing editor of Foodie magazine, and still run Taza Platito. She adjusts her schedule when something needs more priority. “You’re not supermom,” says Tina. “The home business is good for moms. It gives as much fulfillment as if you had an outlet as clients call and place orders. But I read about successful businesswomen with outlets. So go with what works for you. Balance your time. Know your priorities,” says Tina. Here are a few more tips from Tina on how mommies can embark on a home-based business and still balance work and family demands: 1. Know what you want and what it is you love to do. Tina says you must look into your hobbies and see if any of these can be turned into something big. “In my case, I like to bake, gather recipes and tinker or change those recipes. It’s a stress buster. If you make your hobby your business, it won’t be a chore to do,” adds Tina. 2. Start small, then work from there. Maybe in the future you can branch out and open an outlet if that seems best for you. 3. Constantly innovate and update. Find what’s new about that hobby of yours. “With wedding cakes, for instance, if you don’t update, you’ll be stuck with old-fashioned designs,” says Tina. In her case, she innovates by using local ingredients such as tablea for her Tsokolate Cake, pastillas de leche for her Pastillas De Leche Cake, and barako coffee for her Caramel Coffee Crunch. Right now she’s working on using healthy local ingredients, such as coconut sugar, for her cakes. 4. Maintain best sellers. Even with new items on the menu, keep the crowd favorites. For Taza Platito, the food for the gods and mango bars are mainstays. 5. Get the word out through your network and through the Internet. What put Taza Platito in the public’s eye was exposure in blog sites such as Dessert Comes First and Shopcrazy. Tina also gives out flyers and is working on launching her Multiply site soon.

SCHOOL will be out soon and that means lots of free time for students. This is peak season for those in the summer workshop business, be it in the field of academics (tutorial and review centers), athletics (sports centers), or arts (cooking, art, dance, and creative writing classes, among others). Among those companies offering summer workshops is Zero Gravity, which offers basic and intermediate streetdance theater workshops for preteens, teens, and adults. Located along busy Katipunan Avenue in Loyola Heights, Quezon City, Zero Gravity is right smack in student territory with schools like UP, Ateneo, Miriam, Kostka, and Multiple Intelligence International School, among others, just a stone’s throw away. This is good for the company since its target market is the student population. There are a lot of dance workshops being offered especially during summer, but what sets them apart, according to Rebie P. Ramoso, one of the owners, is “the element of theater. Other dance studios focus on developing dance skills. We put together dance, theater and multimedia arts.” As their tagline says it, “We don’t just dance. We tell a story.” This year’s summer workshops, for instance, will be composed of 16 dance sessions and 8 theater sessions. There are five dance teachers on board and one acting coach, Missy Maramara, a theater actor/director. For the culminating activity, they will be staging West Side Story. Rebie teaches dance in Miriam Grade School and noted that there was a need for a venue for students’ dance expression. School performances and competitions were not enough for them. That’s when Rebie, Kristine S. Calleja, and Karen Carlos decided to put up Zero Gravity. They started offering a summer dance workshop in 2007 and quickly saw very shy kids coming out of their shell once they go through the classes. “The fulfillment for us is not in mounting huge productions. It’s in seeing students improve,” says Rebie. Marketing efforts According to Kristine who handles marketing and events, to draw their target market in, Zero Gravity employs direct mail to exclusive villages. They also go direct to schools by putting up posters and giving away flyers. High traffic sites like churches are also visited so they can give out more flyers. Some time ago, they also placed an ad in the newspaper “but that was the worst [marketing effort,]” says Kristine. There was a lot of competition and they only got two respondents from that ad. The best way for them to draw their target market is through viral marketing—the use of the Internet, specifically their Multiply site. About 50 percent of their enrollees found out about them or got in touch with them through their Multiply site. This just goes to show that the youth are very much online and get their information more from the Internet than through traditional media like newspapers. Surviving the lean months But since workshops of this kind are very popular only in the summer, how do they survive the lean months? In 2008, Zero Gravity decided to offer regular classes throughout the year. They have also identified another income stream: offering their studio for rent—which could be a venue for rehearsals, seminars, workshops, and even parties. To maintain their competitive edge, Rebie says, “We keep ourselves updated with the trends abroad. We want to continue striving to be better in dance and in other kinds of art. We’d like to push the boundaries in art and keep growth organic.”

NEW downloadable applications are available at the iTunes store every day, but February 14, 2009 was extra special for Filipino techies. It was the day that a Filipino-developed application for the iPhone was made available for free to anyone interested around the world: the Council on Foreign Relations (CFR), a free news application developed by Vinta Solutions Inc. for the global organization CFR. To date, more than 4,000 downloads have been recorded in just two weeks' time so much so that the CFR application made it to top 12 downloads list on the iTunes AppStore. Majority of the downloads were made in the United States, with others made in Europe and Asia. Leonides De Ocampo, chairman and CEO of Vinta LLC (the US arm of Vinta Solutions, Inc.), says Vinta is just a small three-year-old family business that's into consulting and outsourcing. He is a mechanical engineer, while his brother, Leon Francis De Ocampo, is an industrial engineer. Both of them are graduates of the University of the Philippines. Leon heads Vinta Solutions, Inc. Leonides also pursued higher studies and finished MS in Mechanical Engineering at Duke University in the US. How Vinta bagged the CFR project is quite interesting. Since Leonides is very much interested in foreign relations and policy and would read the CFR website regularly, he thought of contacting the CFR offices in September 2008 (just when the global financial crisis unraveled and Lehman Brothers collapsed) to offer Vinta's services. Leonides noticed that a lot of news organizations are coming on board the iPhone and thought that CFR would be interested to do the same. "I just contacted them and they were very pleased," he says. "We provide very competitive rates." CFR is an independent foreign policy think tank. Its goal is to help people better understand the world and foreign policies. Even CNN, Leonides says, taps foreign experts from CFR to comment on foreign policy. Membership is stringent as applicants have to possess certain credentials. Among its members are former US presidents Bill Clinton and Jimmy Carter, former US secretary of state Condoleeza Rice, journalists Tom Brokaw and Diane Sawyer, and actress Angelina Jolie. In the CFR application for iPhone, people can read daily briefs about foreign news, and read expert opinions, interviews and analysis. "CFR sends us a huge chunk of data called a feed. We cut that data into pieces relevant to how the phone displays it," says Leonides. The application can also cache items (create local copies of data on the phone) so readers can go back to previously viewed items easily while connected to the Internet. Leonides says two Filipino developers worked on the CFR application--Luther Estares, a graduate of computer science in Mindanao, and Marni Reyes, a UP Los Banos computer science graduate. "The talent here is everywhere. The intellectual capital we have is very rich," says Leonides. Vinta is also pursuing similar mobile application and data processing projects globally, but the bulk of their work is in doing outsourced AutoCAD services. For mobile applications, current clients are based in the US and Germany. For AutoCAD, Vinta has clients in Canada and the Middle East. The company is also set to launch another free iPhone application in the next few weeks called SabiNila, a news aggregator for the Filipino community. Leonides admits it may be difficult to tap the foreign market at this time because of the global financial crisis. However, with "strong relationships with clients or a strong interest in their business, and the right timing to capture their interest," Filipino companies may be able to get new accounts abroad. He offers two tips for those wanting to tap the foreign market: 1. Go with what you're interested in. You'll then have insight in that market or area. 2. Immerse yourself in the latest trends. In Leonides' case, he noticed how people use phones much and merged this with his interest in foreign news. This gave him material for a proposal to present to CFR. Don't let geography limit you. With the right product, you can pitch that proposal to business prospects worldwide.

Family businesses aren’t a sure thing. Some last for many decades, while others go pffft when the second or third generation members take the helm. One family business that’s gaining strength as the years go by is the jewelry business of the Sarabia-Gorriceta family of Iloilo. Amparo Sarabia started a jewelry store in Iloilo. Later on, her eldest daughter, Dr. Sandra Sarabia-Gorriceta (an optometrist following the footsteps of her grandfather, Dr. Federico Sarabia, the first optometrist in the Philippines), also went into the jewelry/pawnshop business with her own shop, the SS Gorriceta, which now has three stores in Iloilo. Now Dr. Sandra’s son, Felix Gorriceta III, is following tradition, heading the jewelry chain store Karat World. “Growing up in Iloilo, I was exposed early to the business. I have a brother and a sister, but I was the only one interested in the jewelry business,” shares Felix. He recounts that when he was in grade 1 or 2, he already knew how to open the store vault. In high school, he helped out in the store, and listened in when his mom talked with suppliers. At first, Felix thought he could be a lawyer or go into politics like his father Felix Gorriceta, Jr., who became mayor of the town of Pavia in Iloilo. Felix studied Legal Management in De La Salle University in Manila to prepare for this. But during school breaks, he would help out at the jewelry store his mom put up in the early 90s in Harrison Plaza. While Felix was in college, his father became ill and his mom had to take care of him more. It was at this point that Felix decided to go into the jewelry business as a career. He went to London to study gemology after college, and when he came back, his father passed away. Since Felix was the eldest, he had to take care of his father’s business, a sugar plantation. “I tried to take care of it but my heart was not into it,” Felix said. After some time, the family decided to have the sugar plantation just rented out. Felix then focused on Karat World, the jewelry business. Innovations Felix lost no time in introducing innovations to the way the family ran the jewelry business. “I made Karat World a brand, not just a jewelry store,” says Felix. From that one store in Harrison Plaza, Felix grew the business. By the end of this year, Karat World will have 16 stores nationwide, with three stores slated to open this year outside Manila (at the Marquee, an Ayala Mall set to open in May in Clark, Pampanga; in Robinsons Dumaguete; and in Cebu). How did he do it? It started with knowing his market. “Karat World’s market is the working woman of today. And so we offer basic jewelry that can be worn every day from morning until night,” shares Felix. The store carries a wide assortment of items with a prices ranging from the reasonable to the high end. “We want to tell people that not all jewelry stores are expensive, and that a woman need not wait for a man to buy her jewelry. She can afford to buy it herself!” says Felix. Based on this profile of their target market, Felix introduced the following innovations to further strengthen his market position: 1. Take out the door in shops to entice customers to come in the stores. “A door creates a barrier between the person and the store. It’s intimidating, not inviting,” he says. At first, his mom was concerned about security, but Felix won her over. Now, Karat World stores are open in front from end to end in the lease area. 2. Create awareness about the brand through the use of media. Felix made sure Karat World’s jewelry are worn by the leading actresses in local teleseryes, and there have been in fact customers coming in asking for the jewelry worn by actresses on Betty La Fea. Felix also mounted advertising campaigns and granted press interviews. 3. Come up with up-to-date designs. “This is very important,” says Felix. But even with modern designs, the jewelry should still be wearable and be attractive to his target market. To ensure this, he observes his clientele and notes what they want. It’s surprising that the tastes of his market vary per location. “In some provinces, people are more conservative and would go for gold jewelry even if white gold is in fashion. In other areas, if you go downtown, conservative designs are in demand. If you go uptown, the experimental designs are what people prefer,” says Felix. He makes sure to stock up on items his market would want in that area. For instance, in Robinsons Galleria, clients are mostly working women. Their bestseller in this location are earrings, and so the store has a minimum of 200 designs on stock, starting at a reasonable price of P1,250 per pair. 4. Introduce a Wedding Station. To make brides-to-be and their fiancés feel extra special, Felix made sure there is a special section in every Karat World that is dedicated to wedding and engagement rings alone. This area also has comfortable chairs where couples can sit and take their time choosing their rings. 5. Offer promotions. Karat World will have a big promotion coming up soon where clients can win a diamond ring. 6. Listen to the staff. “This is to make sure that we hear what they think would be good for the business, what would sell or not sell,” says Felix. He also keeps an open line with the staff, meeting all staff personally upon hiring and telling them that they can write him a note or e-mail him or HR to tell them anything. “We want to help them the best way possible. They can air out anything, be it a grievance or not,” says Felix. 7. Be open to change, even in terms of supply. “We want to give customers the best possible price and so we try to source the best products,” shares Felix. About 80 percent of their merchandise are sourced from Italy and Hong Kong, while 20 percent are made locally—Karat World’s wedding ring line designed by Felix himself. “Here is where my creative streak shines through. I like doing designs for wedding rings,” he says. 8. Try to please customers as much as possible. Felix tells his staff that people use their hard-earned money to buy their merchandise so they deserve the best. And so the store will go out of its way to serve customers, even to make arrangements for the delivery of an engagement ring abroad if the customer wants. 9. Have a website to let people know about the store and its offerings. Selling online is not a possibility given that jewelry is a personal thing, but the website is a way to clue the customer in on what they can see at Karat World stores. Felix’s mom is still involved in Karat World while still overseeing her SS Gorriceta shops. She is head of finance of Karat World, while Felix is in charge of the creative side. It is interesting to note that Felix’s wife is also in the jewelry business but in another chain, F&C. But everything’s going well in the family and in the business. The innovations are working well, and looks like the business will survive and be passed on to succeeding generations.

IT ALL started with a dream among friends. Karen Marek, Cielo Bulos, and Maya Madarang-Tababa were ‘hopeless romantics.’ “Cielo and I were not married yet at the time and we had ideas of what we wanted for our weddings,” says Karen, a former TV and movie star with the screen name Karen Timbol. Since Karen and her then boyfriend (now husband) Ariel Atendido were mounting fashion shows and corporate events through their company Exuberance, it wasn’t far-fetched for them to venture into wedding planning and coordination as well. Karen broached the idea to Cielo and Maya who were with her in the single parents ministry of Christ’s Commission Fellowship, and the two agreed to join her and Ariel in a wedding planning business, after they prayed about it. When they told people about their plans, many discouraged them in pursuing the business. “’It’s very detailed,’ they said. But the desire was there,” says Karen. Soon Blushing Bride the business was born in October 2005 with the tagline “We do your I do.” From only one wedding they coordinated in the last quarter of 2005, Blushing Bride has done more than 50 weddings and debuts to date. The company participates in bridal fairs to get the word out. Ariel reveals they get inquiries every day from people who check out their website and are referred by clients and friends. Majority of their clients are based abroad, and they make sure everything is ironed out for these clients by the time they arrive for their wedding day. Blushing Bride can do the full coordination from booking the venue to choosing a florist to conceptualizing invitations and putting together a delectable menu, etcetera. They also offer coordination services for the wedding day only for brides and grooms who want to take care of all other arrangements themselves. Wedding day coordination services cost about P25,000, while the full coordination fee is about P45,000. Karen stresses that they can work with clients’ budgets. “We will find and negotiate with suitable vendors based on their budget and preferences.” For full coordination, the Blushing Bride partners are very hands-on in conceptualization. “The wedding should reflect the couple’s personalities,” says Karen. The concept is incorporated in the invitations, reception program, and the total look of the place resulting in a unique wedding that suits the new bride and groom. “Some brides and grooms are clueless while others are OC. It would be helpful if they know what they want. But when clients trust us to take care of everything, our creativity shines through,” shares Karen. Blushing Bride’s services go beyond choosing the vendors. They also encourage couples to undergo premarital counseling. “One of our goals is to reach out to couples. Some of them don’t know what they are going into. We encourage them to undergo counseling to see if they are meant to be together or not,” says Karen. Ariel and Karen share their experience with counseling to the clients, and this has proved helpful to a lot of them. “We want them to not just have a beautiful wedding but a beautiful marriage too,” says Ariel, who is also a model and the current president of the Professional Model Association of the Philippines. Blushing Bride’s start-up capital was minimal. Initial cash outlay went to booth rentals in bridal fairs, fliers, website design, etcetera. They work from their homes and meet their clients outside. The partners are happy with how their business is going. “In every wedding, we learn something new,” says Karen. “And it’s very rewarding when clients are happy and refer us to other people.” Some of their wedding clients have become corporate events clients too. While it may be easy to set up such a business, success doesn’t come to every wedding planner. To succeed, Karen and Ariel say you should have these: 1. Passion. “If you don’t have the passion for it, you won’t last,” says Ariel. “You deal with people who have different personalities. Some clients demand too much.” 2. Organization skills 3. Patience 4. Love for people. “You must be a people person,” says Karen.

THEY SAY you haven’t really been to Dagupan City, Pangasinan unless you’ve eaten at this homey restaurant called Dagupeña. Dagupan is bangus country, and at Dagupeña, the bangus is the star of all seasons. There’s the sinigang a bangus, daing a bangus, sizzling boneless bangus (which we had for brunch last month; very good), inasin a pait (salted bangus innards) and so much more. The restaurant is also known for its egado, pinakbet, binagoongang pata, rellenong alimasag, embotido, and Dagupan longganisa. Emma Bernal-Castro, the proprietress, told us that Dagupeña was started by her mother Ignacia Caliolio Bernal or Bai Inacia for short, in 1928 as a small eatery to augment the family income. Widowed at an early age and not having finished school, Bai Inacia focused her efforts on Dagupeña, serving up her signature dishes. The restaurant became so successful that Bai Inacia was able to put all her eight children to school. Dagupeña was also credited for defining Pangasinense cuisine. Bai Inacia was said to be a meticulous cook, and so care was taken to ensure that her original recipes were followed to the letter. Thus the sinigang a bangus your lolo may have tasted if he passed by Dagupan in the prewar times tastes the same as the sinigang a bangus served in Dagupeña’s charming old style restaurant in Calasiao today. Bai Inacia has already passed away, but her legacy lives on. The younger generation, however, has introduced new dishes to update the menu. The sizzling boneless bangus comes with a tartar sauce made using herbs freshly harvested from the garden at the back of the restaurant. One of Emma’s children, Ann, is also a chef, and she has concocted some of the new dishes and desserts like the frozen banana mousse. Emma said Manileños craved for boneless bangus and so Dagupeña started deboning and selling this in supermarkets. Today there is a whole range of frozen boneless bangus they sell under the restaurant brand, from daing to bangus steak to bangus belly in flavors like pesto, teriyaki, honey mustard, and Thai green chili. They even have bangus chorizo and tocino. Talk about innovation! Dagupeña has been around for 80 years already. What’s the secret to its success? “Ang secret? Inaasikaso talaga, from the kitchen to the marketing (The secret? We take extra care, from the kitchen to the marketing),” said Emma. She is in the restaurant herself 12 hours a day as a hands on entrepreneur. “Also, prayer. I was even led to this place we can afford,” she added. For a long time, Dagupeña was located on AB Fernandez Avenue in the downtown area, and in fact, Emma was born in the little house behind the restaurant. It was only three years ago that it moved to its present location on Diversion Road in San Miguel, Calasiao, just a few minutes away from the old location. Many people have asked Emma if they could franchise the business but the family is intent on keeping the business among themselves. “Mahirap ang restaurant (It’s hard to run a restaurant),” she said, that’s why they’d rather keep it the way it is now, allowing them to still be hands on and preserve Bai Inacia’s legacy.