NegoSHIO Series: Starting a Food Stall Business

You can find a lot of delicious food on the streets, especially in the Philippines. Some Filipinos would even race to the street to satisfy their hunger with Pinoy street foods. Street food which are often deep fried has become a favourite for a lot of Filipinos and it’s for good reason – it’s accessible and affordable.

Chicken, fish, tofu, pork rinds, intestines, pig trotters and knuckles, shrimp, spinach, name it – Pinoys fry it! As Ike Stranathan, a Philippine-based Californian writer said “If you don’t like fried foods, don’t come to the Philippines!”

There’s so much choice when it comes to street food especially with various Pinoy ulam recipes available to us. Filipinos can also turn this into a viable business venture since it’s easy to do and budget-friendly. You can start your own food stall business for some excess income if you’re up for it.

One way to start your food stall business is offering fried dishes which are easy to prepare and time efficient. You can prepare the food ahead of the time and fry it just minutes before serving to maintain its crispy quality. Serving fried food is often the choice of businesses because of its workability and profitability. However, the market is saturated with almost the same products that it poses a challenge to newbies on how to stand out amidst the not-so-varied offerings.

Here are three strategies in starting out your food stall business:

1. Novelty

In putting up a business, novelty is the name of the game. Being new and original gives you the edge among your direct competitors. Venturing on familiar items may seem to work but giving it a push of a uniqueness makes a big difference.

2. Affordability

A market study showed that there is still growth in venturing into small to medium food businesses amidst the high saturation rate. Still a make or break factor for food business is the low prices of varied offerings catering to the greater portion of the population.

3. Own a Brand of Taste (Novelty meets Affordability)

Uniqueness in food business talks about the factor that makes your dish stands out. Familiar offerings can still rise up as long as it will leave a flavorful mark to the consumers making them loyal to your brand. For example, when you market Pinoy ulam recipes such as Garlic Chicken, it must be bursting with garlic flavor enough to be remembered by your consumers. However, novelty factor sometimes cost higher than expected. Newbies must find alternatives that will both address uniqueness and low price.

We have prepared three recipes for you —  Fried Chicken, Calamares   and Adobong Mani —  which used  Aji-Shio® Seasoning Mix  in Garlic and Pepper variants. This simple and easy-to-cook Fried Chicken recipe will cost you ₱295 for 30 pieces. You can earn as much as ₱605 once you sell it for ₱30 per piece.

Meanwhile, this Calamares recipe or deep fried squid rings is also a popular deep fried street food in the Philippines. This recipe will cost you more or less ₱415, wherein one (1) kg of squid makes 44 sticks or 5 pieces of squid per stick. The selling price per stick is at ₱25, which will give you a profit of ₱685 for 44 sticks.

Lastly, a favorite among commuter’s and is sold by most street vendors in almost every corner in the country — Adobong Mani . For ₱116, you can already make 21 packs (50 grams/pack) of Adobong Mani and sell it at ₱15, making a profit of more or less ₱200 (all recipe costs as of December 2019) .

Watch the girls of The Soshal Network show how you can kick-start your kanto-style food cart business:

References

Buted, D., & Ylagan, A. (2014). Street Food Preparation Practices. Asia Pacific Journal of Education, Arts and Sciences, 1(2).

Masigan, A. (2019, June 16). Trends in the food industry. Retrieved from https://www.bworldonline.com/trends-in-the-food-industry/7

Stranathan, I. (2016, August 28). 10 Exotic Filipino Foods You Have to See to Believe. Retrieved from https://www.staffvirtual.com/blog/10-exotic-filipino-foods-you-have-to-see-to-believe