By Florence Pia G. Yu
Published: Sun Star Daily
Cebu City, Philippines
January 6, 2001
Special Supplement, S2
"She loves to cook, but she doesn't really bake," tells Banjo Ramirez, Marketing Head of Julie's Franchise Corporation on the woman who started it all: Julie Gandionco.
A canteen concessionaire to a rattan factory and two other small establishments some twenty years ago, Ma'am Julie had supplied food and snack items to workers. "She noticed that one of the most common snack items preferred by customers was bread," says Ramirez. Because she only cooks, her bread was brought in bulks from a bakery on a daily basis. That was how things ran. Until, the chief baker of the bakery suggested to Julie that with the quantity of bread she was selling, she could already open her own bakery.
That was the idea that started it all. "Ma'am Julie wanted to come up with a neighborhood bakeshop which was clean and which focused on customer service. At that time, when you say neighborhood bakeshop, kana bitawng inato lang (the concept is homemade). Julie's Bakeshop started to put the seed of professionalizing the business," Ramirez recounts.
And exactly 20 years ago from today, the very first Julie's Bakeshop was opened in Wireless, Mandaue. "Julie's Bakeshop Focused into the neighborhood concept of a bakeshop. I think they created a market for it," says Ramirez.
The marketing strategy of selling Julie's Bakeshop as a neighborhood bakeshop worked so well that six months after, another branch was opened in Aznar Road. Pretty soon, Julie's Bakeshop branches began mushrooming everywhere. "Our vision really is to have a Julie's Bakeshop in every town. We want to be accessible to our customers," Ramirez says. Ramirez hopes that vision would be reached in the next ten years.
Banking on accessibility and customer service, Julie's Bakeshop made a hit with the "bread-oriented" market.
With the business growing, it was inevitable for the Gandionco children to manage their own bakeshops. All of Julie''s six children has had a hand in running the business.
Dr. Rico Gandionco, Julie's son and now Chief Operating Officer of Julie's Franchising Corporation, tells that for ten years, Julie's Bakeshop expanded with partnership. "All of the bakeries were a partnership between one of the siblings and a partner. So it was a fifty-fifty ownership," he explains. "But then it became a problem. There was no Julie's Franchising Corporation at that time. We (siblings) were franchisers to our own partners. We had different styles in assisting our partners. Some had a good style, some didn't. Some partners were already complaining."
The solution was found in Julie's Franchising Corporation (JFC), which was created three years ago. "Running the business became more professionalized. We are working hard to standardize everything," Gandionco says.
Although now a franchising corporation, Julie's Bakeshop is still unmistakably a family-run business. All the siblings have been tasked to manage the departments of the corporation, so they would know how busy it actually is. And the neighborhood may yet be seeing more of Julie's Bakeshop in the years to come. "We are a neighborhood bakeshop, because that is where we want to be--in your neighborhood. We want to make available your bread, fresh and baked daily," he says.