My Money

All about adobo

Salmer Espinosa and Carlo Sampan work as MIS personnel while Paolo Paras is a geodetic engineer while managing his businesses. Paras and Sampan, varsity swimmers in their college days, also teach swimming during the weekends. The latter is also finishing his master’s degree in marketing communications at De La Salle University.

When the three friends decided to go into business together, they immediately thought of food because they love to eat and their entrepreneurial spirit centered on adobo.

“Adobo is an all-time Filipino favorite. It may be prepared in different ways and each dish tells a story,” says Sampan.

Late last year, Espinosa, Paras and Sampan opened Adobolicious at the Salubungan Food Court of Duty Free Philippines in Parañaque with a capital of P150,000. The eatery is targeting balikbayans who are shopping for pasalubong for their loved ones and employees working in the complex.

“We made sure that the money was invested wisely since we have limited funds. Some of the equipment we use are personally owned while others are gifts to us by family members and friends who support our endeavors,” says Espinosa, who spends his weekends exploring new recipes for the favorite Filipino dish.

Adobolicious’ offerings are a result of collaboration and experimentation using time-tested recipes.

“Our adobo recipes are not typical. Even if we use the same ingredients, the process of preparing and cooking is what sets our dishes apart from other adobos,” says Paras.

The partners are dedicated to making the business grow and reach their vision.

“We are not only hands on, we are also heads on and hearts on,” says Sampan.

Their “baptism” as entrepreneurs included trips to the wet market, cooking until late in the evening and personally making deliveries.

“We are also slowly concentrating on being customer-oriented by exploring new ways to make our services better, the packaging more appealing and interacting with our customers and getting feedback from them on how we can improve our goods and services,” says Espinosa.

From the beginning, the three have been very meticulous and hands on with the business. They personally took charge of canvassing materials and ingredients, photo shoots and other aspects of the business.

“We believe that the food business needs extra attention,” says Sampan. “There are many things to be considered, such as the consistency of the food so that the preparation, cooking and serving of the adobo will always be the same. We cannot afford to deviate from the standard measurements of every dish as this may affect the quality of our products. Above all, sanitation is very important in the business.”

Adobolicious’ customers have been asking when the partners plan to open another branch and they say franchising is the next step.

“We are planning to open another branch in a strategic location,” reveals Paras. Dinna Chan Vasquez