Growth strategy explained

Lucio Cochanco, Jr.

Lucio Cochanco, Jr. is the president of Fly Ace Corp., marketer of such products as Jolly canned vegetables, canned fruits, Doña Elena Mediterranean products (olive oil, olives and capers, pasta and pesto sauces, canned tomatoes, anchovy, bottled sardines and canned tuna) and Good Life oriental products (sotanghon, egg noodle, bihon, bread crumbs, sesame oil, oyster sauce).

But the company was not always so big.

He shares here his insights on how the company transitioned from a humble trading company in Divisoria to a major player in the canned vegetable and cooking oil industries.

Q: You used to be a trader of imported goods in Divisoria. What made you shift and launch your own brands in 1997?

A: Our parents Lucio S. Cochanco Sr. and Ederlina Cochanco started our business The Jolly General Merchandise in 1972 on Elcano Street, heart of wholesale trading in Divisoria.

They migrated from Cabanatuan City, Nueva Ecija where my grandfather used to have a rice mill.

In 1986, under the administration of Cory Aquino, the government adopted import liberalization.

Imported food products only available at PX stores in US bases (Clark Airbase/Subic Port) and shops at Cartimar can now be imported commercially.

Since rice is a political commodity, prices are monitored by government, margin is very small.

We slowly traded imported household brands such as Del Monte Fruit Cocktail, Pringles, Mars, Hershey, Nestle, Hormel Spam, Dove, Ivory, Jergens Soap, Downy Fabric Softener, Secret Deodorant and more … we have more than 1,000 sku in our price list.

All these brands have principal presence in the Philippines.

When these brands gained popularity in the local supermarkets and started building sales volume in the mid 90s, their local principal slowly took over the business from importer/trader like us.

By that time, The Jolly General Merchandise already transitioned to Fly Ace Corp. to include the Cochanco children in the business.

With popular household brands slowly slipping away from our selling portfolio, in mid 1990s we made the decision to develop our own house brands.

Jolly brand for canned veg/canned fruit products, Doña Elena brand for Mediterranean products, Good Life brand for oriental products.

Q: You have three major brands in Jolly, Doña Elena, and Good Life. How did you decide what brand to use for which products?

A: When we decided to develop our own house brands back then, we have two things in our mind.

First, the brand should look and sound relevant to the product portfolio it represent while it easily attract the attention of it’s target consumers. Second, brands developed should have their own growth direction and appeal to different target market.

Q: Jolly is now the leader in canned mushrooms and whole kernel corn, while Doña Elena is the leader in olive oil, Jolly Heartmate in canola oil and  Good Life in sesame oil. What is your formula for leadership?

A: When we launched these brands, we started at zero base, zero sales number and zero brand equity.

One of our corporate values is integrity, we applied integrity in all the quality of our brands.

First, you really have to understand your market. We made sure we offer consistent high quality at reasonable price.

It also helps if you have good relation with the trade and they supported you. We also made sure the products are consistently available in the market.

Lastly, we consistently try to understand our consumers and give value to the brand. When I say value, I do not mean extending price off or discount. We continuously develop recipes to expand usage for our consumers, share the health benefits for using our brands.

From time to time we inject creativity and innovation in our packaging design/format, new sizes, flavor offering.

Consistently repeat this for 20 years.

Q: What are your proudest achievements, and why?

A: Fly Ace started as a traditional Chinoy family-owned business in Divisoria, where all family members except in- laws and relatives are involved, all decisions are centralized within the family. I am a proud product of Divisoria where cost control, efficiency and fast decision making is a norm. As a company, we are proud of our transition from a trading business to brand owner and brand builder. We can now plot the growth and future of our company with our own brands.