Chapter 33
Jaz Cola
Distributorship, First in 4 Municipalities, then Another 5 Municipalities
Our entry with
Jaz Cola soft drink
distributorship was partly motivated
with our little success in the Salted Peanuts & Banana Cakes making and selling. It taught us
ideas and skills and how to sell
and distribute products. It’s
interesting to learn the arts of selling & marketing.
I planned to go into
business as part of my ministry, as most Pastors working in small village
churches have found it hard to met needs of the family. And my experience, when
I have to resigned from work, because of differences with management showed
importance of a little business. I think, it was done by St. Paul in his
ministery –tent making.
I saw the need for pastors to have some kind of
additional works, if the church offers salary that could not provide their basic needs. Another, was to have an
additional income by making use of my
available time, to earn something a
bit more.
With my wife, Hesther,
we learned a little of Intrepreneurship.
We were able to start a little
business and made it grow.
But producing products and selling it, was a hard job. We need
time to rest. Few years ago, I’ve
thought of selling Coca Cola or Pepsi Cola, while in the
ministry. But the playing field was
hard to penetrate. Big capital was needed.
Our entry with Jaz
Cola softdrink business was made
possible thru Atty. Alex Espino. He was former President of West Negros College. Later, he
became Vice President of RC Cola and Jaz
Cola Corporation. Jaz Cola was owned and operated by Mr. Augusto (Boboy) Sijuco, an entrepreneur and businessman in Visayas and Manila.
He owns RC Cola and Jaz Cola plants in Cebu, Bacolod City and in
Zarraga, Iloilo. Atty. Alex Espino was
Vice President of the the two enterprises.
We became friends.
In 1991, Atty. Alex Espino was elected President of the
Convention of Philippine Baptist Churches.
I have a little share in making possible his winning the presidency of
the Convention. For in most
elections, whether in government,
church, national associations, the ability to mobilized peoples vote were skills that were important. It can win elections,
and put a person in position of power. In the elections, we secretly campaign
for our candidates.
Atty. Alex Espino helped
me became Jaz Cola distributor in 4 municipalties
in North eastern Iloilo.
One time, I told him. “
Attorney, I would like to be a distributor of Jaz Cola. Please help me.”
He looked at me
and said. “Oh,
you want to be an entrepreneur? How about your ministry? Are you leaving
your ministry?”
I told Atty. Espino. “Attorney, I want to follow the steps of
Paul. He was a preacher. An evangelist. A missionary. And an
Entrepreneur. He makes and sold
tents houses wherever he was led by the Lord
to work.”.
Atty. Espino said: “I’ll try. I will see what I can do.”
We continued making and distributing our Salted Peanuts and
other products.
Boboy Sijuco and Atty. Espino were very good friends. During their
studies in the College of Law,
they became very close friends. A
friendship that went on for many, many years.
Boboy Sijuco was President of RC
Cola & Jaz Cola Corporations. He closed RC Cola and started Jaz Cola
In March 1991. Atty.
Alex Espino visited me. He was following up the operations in Iloilo. He
told me, he will gave me the distributorship of Jaz Cola in four municipalities
- Anilao, Banate, Barotac Viejo and San Rafael. I will be sole distributor for
the area. He told me to get a Business Permit. And to get a delivery truck. Then, I can
start.
I talked to
Hesther. “We will venture into soft drink
business. We will be distributor in the 4 municipalities for Jaz Cola. We will have no
competitor. We will sell Jaz Cola to the 4
municipalities. These may be
bigger opportunity.”
Hesther applied for a Business Permit. We called our business, “Bernal Designs
Enterprises”. By this time, I have learned a little of Welding works. And have
taught of making steel window grows for
some homes. In case, Jaz Cola fails, we
can go to a new business which a ready name. It was registered in Leganes but operates in Anilao, Banate,
Barotac Viejo and San Rafael.
We asked a friend to join and be our partner in
the salted peanut business and provide the jeep,
which will be used two days a week for
deliveries and collections. He will drive. And my niece,
will serve as salesgirl and collector. He accepted our offer. And all were arranged.
Our Business
Permit was approved in a week’s time. We have a jeepney,
pulled out from Salted Peanuts works. We
started Jaz Cola distributorship. We have about P 6,000 as roling capital –gasoline, oil, food of
workers, etc.
Jaz Cola gave me a
loan for 1,000 cases of Jaz Cola
empties to start. That cost P92.00 per
case. Total of P92,000 for 1,000 empty.
It was our first loan. We will pay it in 24 months. We can add more Jaz Cola empties,
under similar arrangements. We will
asked deposits from the stores for
every case that they will buy,
also on instalment.
Jaz Cola Fulls, (with contents), we will pay
with 7 days, post dated
checks. The arrangement was workable. I thought it will work well.
I asked my brother, Norberto Bernal be our Salesman and driver. And a young man, as helper. We planned our areas and days for deliveries. Every day, we were on the road,
except Sundays. Time for our saleman and
helper to rest and worship.
Our jeepney can carry only 70 cases. The first week, we
sold the 70 cases every day. The potentials for Jaz Cola was good.
On the 2nd week to the 4th week, we picked up, the
stock from the plant in Zarraga and delivered to our outlets. After our stocks
were delivered, we went back to the plant for another load. Our daily sales increase. We can sell 100 to
140 cases daily. If we have a bigger delivery truck, we can sell 200 cases
or more.
After six months, we decided to get a bigger
delivery truck. We bought it on
instalment from Jaz Cola Corporation. It
was an ELF, with Diesel Engine. It
has capacity to carry 200 cases per
trip.
The ELF truck was now
used for our deliveries. We have three personnels. A salesman –driver and 2 helpers.
The jeepney was reserved for
use in case of emergencies.
One reasons for good sales was the price. Jaz Cola. We sold
it at retail price of P4.00 per bottle. Cola Cola and Pepsi Cola
were sold at P6.00 per bottle.
.
The commission was also good. We got a commission of
P10.00 for every case of Jaz Cola sold. For Family Size, we got a commission of P12.00.
For 200 cases sold daily, our
sales daily was P14,000. We earn a
gross income of P2,200 for that
day. If we sold 200 cases a month for
26 days, our gross monthly income
was P57,200. And P57.200
x 12 months = P686,400. These was our gross average income yearly.
From this amount, we
pay expenses for truck payment, 2000 cases of Jaz emties, salaries and wages
for saleman and 2 helpers, oil, diesel fuel and gasoline, food and snack for
personnel, maintenance, promotions and advertising, incidental and
unforeseen expenses. Daily we got about P1,000 income, after all our debts for the week were paid.
Our area of operations?
The first 6 years, our area of distributorship were the 4 municipalities of Anilo, Banate, Barotac
Viejo and San Rafael. We developed the market for Jaz Cola, up to the
hinterland villages of these four municipalities
On our 4th year of distributorship, we saw potential to sell 600 to
700 cases daily. We bought another truck, a 2nd
hand Hino Truck with Diesel
Engine. We bought it for P400,000. Again we bought it on
instalment. We pay P2.00 per Jaz Cola we buy from the company. The truck
can carry 400 cases of Jaz per trip. With our 2 delivery trucks, we can sell now
600 cases daily. Sometimes more. Our income doubled. But our expenses also
doubled. For we have two trucks and 6
personnel.
Eight years after we
started Jaz Cola, the distributor for Ajuy, Concepcion, Sara, San Dionisio and
Lemery decided to stop operations. He
has a new business. The Jaz Cola manager
offered us to take over distributorship for the
5 municipalities.We took the opportunity. And from 2001, our distributorship covered a total of 9
towns all in northern Iloilo. The last towns in the north were Lemery and San Dionisio. We have now 3 big
delivery trucks, covering 9 municipalities. Our sales increased 3 times.
We continued our
distributorship. Then in year 2002, RC Cola Philippines, which closed 5
years ago, came back. They established
partnership with Mr. Boboy Sijuco again. They opened RC Cola
at Jaz Cola plants in Cebu,
Bacolod and Iloilo.
The company Manager talked to me. They will gave us the franchise
to sell RC Cola in all the 9 municipalities covered by Jaz Cola. But it will be
exclusive distributorship of RC Cola. We must get an RC Cola delivery
truck. I talked with my wife Hesther. We
considered the potentials and possibilities of the business.
We accepted the offer.
We will distribute RC Cola in 9
municipalities of where Jaz Cola operates – from Anilao, Banate,
Barotac Viejo, San Rafael, Ajuy, Concepcion, San Dionisio, Sara and Lemery.
We bought the RC Cola truck, a
Canter, diesel engine, from the company
for P600,000. We bought it again, on installent. We pay daily, P2.00 per RC Cola we bought.
We have now 4 big
trucks distributing Jaz Cola in 9 municipalities with an average sales 800 cases
daily. Our average gross income
daily was P57,600. Our gross
monthly income was P1,497,600. And our
grossly yearly income was P17,971,200.
We started our Jaz Cola soft drink business with P6,000 cash involved. It was courage and trust in God. And assistance from a friend, who gave us access to resources and finances. His power to make decision. With God’s help and continued guidance we expanded our Jaz
Cola and RC Cola distributorship.
My wife, Hesther
served as cashier and accountant. She was a commerce graduate. She assisted me
and together we worked to build the soft drink business. It was a dream to
build a small business that will provide us some income, for the schooling of
our children. At the same time, provide employment to our relatives and
friends.
As our business grow
and our distribution grew, I developed a certain kind of fear. The kind of fear when one holds and carry big money, which was not our own.
Some of co-distributors were held-up in their areas of operations. Some
were in their homes.
I went to a Security
Agencies, whose officer I knew. I
applied as a Security Guard. I have to carry a gun, for security. He knew
I was in Jaz Cola Business. I need a gun for protection. A licesnsed firearms, I can carry outside my residence.
Since “agaw armas” was prevalent, I was given authority to carry firearms outside our office. I can
bring it outside our home and in
business.
When we rode our jeepney, Hesther
just put the money inside a secret space in jeepney. I drove. In my bag was a gun. But, I am not sure, if I have the heart to fire it if needed. It seems my mind was not readied and
prepared to fire a gun at a man. I prayed.
“Lord, please be with us and protect us.
Do not allow a holdupper near us. I am not ready to shot him if he came. Please do not allow him to cross our path and take the money that was not ours. It was
the company’s money..”
When we reached the bank,
I just leave my bag at the desk
of the Security Guard. I whispered to
him, please take care. There’s
“stock” inside. For some years, I
was pastor, an entrepreneur and a licensed Security Guard. Nobody knew,
but Hesther, my wife, that I am
a licensed Security Guard.
We met some unforeseen
situations. One time, our delivery truck, an Elf was hit by a
Tricycle driver with 2 passengers. The
tricycle driver died on the spot.
And 2 of his companions were brought in serious conditions to the
the hospital. The driver of the
Tricycle has no Driver’s License.
During that time, I was in Makati. I was helping in the
campaign of Boboy Sijuco in his
congressional campaign in Makati. I was informed by telephone of what happened
in Iloilo. The father of the diceaseddriver, negotiated
only for help and assistance.
The Insurance paid, about P50,000
to the family. We also gave the family P10,000a assistance.
In another occasion, one
afternoon in a barangay in San
Rafael, our delivery truck was going back to Barotac Viejo. Our truck was held up by 4 persons. They stopped
the truck. The driver did not stop. His companions, who were on the front of
the truck, shot at the drivers side. Three of our workers, including a friend
who joined, were wounded. The hold uppers took P70,000 which was our sales that day.
We spent P20,000 for medical expenses for our three personnel who, were wounded. They
were in the hospital for 4 days.
Just minor wounds.
These were some risks, we often met in business. It’s hard. But there were times,
too, when all is well and normal.
Despite our big sales,
often what is left daily was about
P1,000 for our home expenses and childrens expenses in school. We worked hard.
We look forward to the day, we will be able to pay all our debts and we will be earning sufficiently for
our daily needs.
When the day comes and we have paid all our debts, with the good business we enjoy, we
can earn about P100,000 a month distributing Jaz Cola and RC Cola in 9
municipalities with 4 trucks and 1 truck as
reserved in case of emergency. I thought life would be, perhaps more
easier, with at least P100,000 monthly income.
Unfortunately, Mr. Augusto (Boboy) Sijuco sold Jaz Cola and
RC Cola. He first sold it to Cosmos
Bottling Corporation. Then Cosmos sold
it to San Miguel Corporations. Boboy Syjuco was running for Congressman in the 2nd District of Iloilo. He sold the 3 Jaz Cola and RC Cola plants in
Cebu, Bacolod and Iloilo.
I asked him, why he sold Jaz Cola and RC Cola for it was
earning. He answered. “Rudy, like a
breeding pig, Jaz Cola is getting old.
Soon, it will not bear piglets anymore. It’s time to change. I must start New
business.”
The policy of San Miguel Corporation was different from the
policy we were used. Many were change. And
more. I think, the major reason, why Jaz Cola was bought? It was to strengthen
the sales of Coca Cola. Jaz Cola, that time the major competitor of Cokes must
be eliminated. After, I think, five years, no more Jaz Cola. Only one product
of Jaz Cola remained. Sparkle Up. It remained
until today. The major competitor of
Sparkle Up, also a lime product, was allowed to die.
Our ventures in the soft drink business, which
was growing to be a success, turned to a
grim failures. Of the 52 Jaz Cola & RC Cola distributors in
Panay, only one survived.
Our dream, and my co-distributors dreams of making a
business with substantial income, providing income to relatives and friends collapsed.
We returned to the company 3
of our delivery trucks. We returned also our Empties to the
company. We have 1
delivery truck that was fully
paid. We sold this to start another business.
My co-distributors went to farming -rice and corn, some poultry, fishing, swine raising, banana
farming. fruit trees, pine apple,
retail marketing, vegetable
farming, RTW, constructions and other lines of businesses. Jas Cola and RC Cola
were forgotten. It remained in our memories.
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