{"id":6021,"date":"2021-02-24T11:00:51","date_gmt":"2021-02-24T03:00:51","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/primer.com.ph\/business\/?p=6021"},"modified":"2024-05-17T15:44:12","modified_gmt":"2024-05-17T07:44:12","slug":"carmens-best-founder-paco-magsaysay","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/primer.com.ph\/business\/carmens-best-founder-paco-magsaysay\/","title":{"rendered":"The Success Story of Carmen’s Best Founder Paco Magsaysay"},"content":{"rendered":"

Just like the Roman Empire,\u00a0<\/span><\/span><\/span>Carmen’s Best<\/b><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/strong>, the\u00a0first\u00a0premium<\/span><\/span><\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/em>ice cream brand in the Philippines, wasn’t built in a single day. It was painstakingly founded through blood, sweat, and tears over the course of many years by its steadfast and hardworking team helmed by its founder and former CEO, <\/span><\/span><\/span>Francisco \u201cPaco\u201d Magsaysay<\/b><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/strong>. Starting out in Ayala Alabang, the brand has grown and branched out all over the country and even in <\/span><\/span><\/span>Singapore<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span>.<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

And as the company celebrates its 10th anniversary, the Philippine Primer proudly tells you how it\u00a0all started.\u00a0How a visionary is sharing his love and passion for\u00a0his favorite frozen treat one tub at a time.<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

\"\"The decadent dark chocolate ice cream<\/span><\/em><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Walking\u00a0A Different Path<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n

They say that the apple doesn’t fall far from the tree. However, this isn’t true in Paco’s case. Coming\u00a0from a very prominent political family, most people thought Paco would one day enter politics, just like his grandfather, the late President Ramon Magsaysay,<\/strong> and his father, former Senator Jun Magsaysay<\/strong>.\u00a0 “It did cross my mind. I think in 2010, 2012 [I considered] entering politics,” he said. His father actually told him that if he was thinking of\u00a0starting a career in politics, he should spend some time in the Senate and Congress first. But he said his father\u00a0never encouraged him to do so.<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

When he did, Paco immediately realized that politics wasn’t for him, saying he might get very frustrated being stuck in that kind of system, that he might not get things done the way he wants. This was the deciding moment he\u00a0chose to become an entrepreneur instead.<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

“At the end of the day, we choose the life we live. We live a short life. I choose to do what I want to do, not what other people expect me to do,” Paco explained.<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

Carmen’s Best<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

When his father and his father\u2019s friends put up a dairy farm in Bay, Laguna in 2007, they initially intended to\u00a0only\u00a0sell fresh milk. However, they soon realized that they would have to deal with an oversupply of milk and short shelf life. Wanting not to waste their\u00a0excess product, Paco tried\u00a0concocting different <\/span><\/span><\/span>dairy products<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span> made from milk until he\u00a0ended up making homemade\u00a0ice cream. Upon realizing how\u00a0good\u00a0it was, he had a eureka moment and convinced his partners to focus on making the\u00a0<\/span><\/span><\/span>best\u00a0<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/em>ice cream. “I knew we had something really good. I said moving forward, we’re just go<\/span><\/span><\/span>ing to<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span> make ice cream,” he said.<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

Thus, Carmen’s Best was born.<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

\"\"Carmen Magsaysay, the namesake of the company<\/em><\/span><\/p>\n

Named after his beloved\u00a0<\/span><\/span><\/span>unica hija<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/em>,\u00a0Carmen’s Best has and always been giving only the best to their clients. Through word-of-mouth and the power of social media, they slowly, but steadily gained popularity and amassed\u00a0a following \u2014loyal customers who\u00a0fell in love with their decadent desserts. “We cater to a small market, but we have very loyal clients. They know what to expect from us. So far, we’ve been able to deliver to their expectations,” Paco added.<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

And the rest, as the saying goes, is history.<\/p>\n

Challenging Times Ahead<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n

When the COVID-19 pandemic hit the Philippines last year, countless restaurants, coffee shops, hotels, resorts, and airlines suddenly stopped ordering.\u00a0This\u00a0consequently\u00a0affected Carmen’s Best sales: less than 10% of their normal sales have been reached <\/span><\/span><\/span>the first few months of the lockdown<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span>. Reality then hit Paco like a truck. He realized they might have to shut down their operations for good since they didn’t know how long it would last.<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

Fortunately, the lockdown eased up a little bit in the latter part of April 2020.\u00a0Countless people, locked up in their homes, started\u00a0craving ice cream,\u00a0one of the most\u00a0popular comfort food in the country. Since lots of paying customers are looking for their products,\u00a0Paco and his team\u00a0started\u00a0looking for ways to safely reach them. And one of them was doing business with community resellers, who fortunately know those who want their frozen desserts. They also utilized the convenience of mobile banking in their transactions, just\u00a0like most of the establishments that\u00a0adapted to the new normal.<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

“The food business has changed tremendously in such a short period of time. We adjusted into that, and we’re very fortunate that we have a good number of loyal customers looking for our products,” he said.<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

Life Lessons<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

Raised by his father living the\u00a0virtues of hard work, honesty, and integrity, Paco believes that these interconnected principles make a man.<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

“For me, trust is more important than wealth because you may have a lot of money, lots of material things, but if people don’t trust you, what’s the point? I’d rather drive a simple car, wear a simple watch, but people trust me rather than [drive] a fancy car, yet nobody wants to talk to me because nobody trusts me,”\u00a0he added with conviction.<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

\"\"The Magsaysays<\/em><\/span><\/p>\n

After\u00a0he was diagnosed with cancer in 2013,\u00a0Paco thought he wouldn’t have much time left to live. Coupled with the fact that his doctors in the US told him that he only had three years left,\u00a0 he decided to\u00a0dedicate the\u00a0rest of his\u00a0time to grow\u00a0Carmen’s Best. Fortunately,\u00a0he managed to overcome\u00a0his condition with the help of science and the unwavering support of his loved ones.<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

“I realized that if you live your life three years at a time, you’ll accomplish so much more. Don’t assume\u00a0to live 20 or 30 years. If there’s something you want to do, if there’s a place you want to visit, if there’s something you want to accomplish, finish it within three years and you will get so much more done. Because we’re never guaranteed <\/span><\/span><\/span>a long life<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span>,” he pointed out.<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

On Being A Successful Entrepreneur<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

When asked about what makes a successful businessman,\u00a0Paco stressed the importance of\u00a0taking risks and embracing the unknown. “Oftentimes, many people don’t want to explore the unexpected. They don’t like eating different food, going to\u00a0different countries, trying things that they don’t know. People sort of stay in their comfort zone. For me, the more uncomfortable you are, the more difficult [the situation] is, the greater the learning is,” he said.<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

He also said that\u00a0entrepreneurs should get into something that they enjoy, in his case making and selling ice cream, saying that\u00a0people won\u2019t work long hours if they don\u2019t love what they are doing. Finally, he shared his insights on believing and having faith in your brand. “We wanted people to sell our product. We use the quality of our product to sell our product. The people who tried our ice cream would tell their families and friends [about it], and post it on Facebook. That’s how we grew because we never really had ads on TV and in the newspaper. It was all about word-of-mouth, free sampling, and all of that,” Paco ended.<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

Aside from Carmen’s Best, Paco also serves as the president and CEO of Asian Vision Cable Holdings, Inc.<\/strong> a telecommunications company that provides high-speed fiber internet and digital cable TV services in Zambales, Batangas, and Quezon Province.<\/p>\n

\n

Written by Paolo Mabuyo<\/span><\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Philippine Primer proudly tells the story of Paco Magsaysay, founder and CEO of Carmen’s Best.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":6049,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[271],"tags":[1510,1513,1511,1512],"class_list":["post-6021","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-success-story","tag-carmens-best","tag-frozen-dessert","tag-ice-cream","tag-paco-magsaysay"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/primer.com.ph\/business\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6021","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/primer.com.ph\/business\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/primer.com.ph\/business\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/primer.com.ph\/business\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/primer.com.ph\/business\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=6021"}],"version-history":[{"count":50,"href":"https:\/\/primer.com.ph\/business\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6021\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":7987,"href":"https:\/\/primer.com.ph\/business\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6021\/revisions\/7987"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/primer.com.ph\/business\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/6049"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/primer.com.ph\/business\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=6021"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/primer.com.ph\/business\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=6021"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/primer.com.ph\/business\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=6021"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}