Orly Manuntag was only looking at ending the year with 10 franchisees for his newest business model which he started in early 2023.
But throughout the course of the three-day 2023 International Franchise Expo held at the SMX Convention Center Manila in October, his Goldmine Farm to Market franchise attracted over 70 interested entrepreneurs who were looking for trending business concepts they can invest into.
“It was so gratifying that prospective franchisees noticed that what we are offering is not just a business opportunity for them but also livelihood for hundreds of farmers involved in the business model. So far, we have registered 76 interest prospective franchisees,” Manuntag said.
Prior to the expo, GoldMine signed turn key agreements with five franchisees from Trece Martirez City in Cavite; Banay-Banay in Cabuyao, Laguna; Ususan, Taguig; Marcos Alvarez Ave. in Las Piñas; and Brgy. 592 in Sta. Mesa.
The business model is the first franchise concept on integrated agriculture practices from production to retailing, completing the supply chain.
After his parents passed away, he was able to scale-up the business to become a wholesaler, creating a network of retailers under a separate brand, the Aling Grasya Rice.
Years after he completed the backward integration of his rice supply chain—from planting, milling and processing to delivery, Manuntag realized that the next big step to growing the business is through franchising.
Goldmine Farm to Market set sights to have 100 franchises by 2024 across the National Capital Region (NCR) and the rest of Luzon. By 2028, the business aims to have close to a thousand franchises nationwide and bring the benefits of the “bigasan concept” to the Visayas and Mindanao.
It is the one of the most affordable franchise concepts introduced during the recent franchise expo, offering franchisees guaranteed return-on-investment (ROI) within 8 to 10 months.
The turn-key package costs P388,000 for a 20-square-meter store. The package includes an inventory of 70 sacks of 25-kilogram rice consisting of 12 rice varieties from red, brown, glutinous to an assortment of premium white rice, both local and imported.
The franchise store is furnished with two rice dispensers with six slots each, a POS hardware and software system, digital and dial type weighing scale, metal shelves for display, metal palettes for product storage, backlit signage, auxiliary items and market peripherals including operations and financial management training.
Included in the franchise is the cost of setting-up of the store itself, or renovation cost if there is an existing commercial space.
The franchise also carries similarly healthy grains-based products like rice flour and glutinous rice flour, an assortment of noodles and soon, a company-formulated brown rice coffee.
Food security
Manuntag’s family has been in the rice retailing business since he was young. Growing up as a son of a rice retailer in Baclaran in the mid-1990s, he pursued a different path only to end up taking charge of the family business when his parents died.
“I made the decision to take up accounting because I want to work far from the wet markets or any retail institution. However, my history of working with farmers during my college years as an activist, made me care for the livelihood that has sustained our family for many years,” he said.
He shifted courses to customs administration and became a licensed customs broker which made it easy for him to import rice. As a wholesaler, he also imports rice from Vietnam and Thailand, especially the premium varieties to help the government maintain a heathy stock of grains for the lean months.
He incorporated the family business under the OCM trademark in 2006 and later on rebranded as Goldmine Farm to Market.
The business has been thriving amid fluctuation of grains prices locally and globally. Linking his wholesale rice trading to farming opened opportunities for contract growing to farmers in Nueva Ecija. Currently, the company holds 28 hectares of rice plantation, of which four hectares are company-owned and 20 hectares are under contract growing agreements with farmers in the area.
Harvested rice is milled in the company-owned rice mill in Bulacan, integrating production to processing.
“It’s a win-win agreement for all of us. We provide all the farm inputs needed by our contract growers, like seeds, fertilizers, chemicals for pest management. We support whatever is needed to increase production,” Manuntag said.
The company is negotiating with farmers to help expand the farming area by an additional 100 hectares. Bringing the total hectarage to 128 hectares will easily quadruple production and create a more stable supply chain for franchisees while contributing to the government’s goal of achieving food security.
Goldmine Farm to Market also plans to extend educational support to deserving children of select contract farmers, not only as a gesture of goodwill but to allow their children a chance at better education and better future.
The company supports 42 scholars in grade school, high school and college. The scholarship program started as the company’s corporate social responsibility program years before the company began its backward farming integration.
Leveraging IP
With the help of the Intellectual Property Office of the Philippines, Manuntag made sure that his franchise concept is registered with the IPOPHL including the design of the store, the design of the dispensers and other related collaterals.
“We want to make sure that our idea, our brand is protected and this goes down to every franchisee that registered with us. It gives us peace of mind that what we have painstakingly created is secured and safe,” Manuntag said.