By Victoria “NIKE” De Dios
It was kind of leap in the dark when couple Roland and Charlotte Loyola. decided to embark in their simple dream of owning an ordinary Burger Shoppe to serve their community in Bukidnon.
The RL Bigbite Burger business was started by Charlotte’s cousin who left it to her after leaving the country for good. Charlotte, at that time working as an optometrist, grabbed the opportunity and continued the business. Back then, it was purely a retailing business in an outdoor setup.
But when Roland and Charlotte got married, they started a grocery store but they did not enjoy it so they decided to focus on the burger business. They used to purchase their burger patties at SLERS and sold it as burgers in Don Carlos.
To their neighbors and community in Don Carlos, Bukidnon, their business was known as “Burgeran” and was later on named as RL Bigbite Burger.
And as time flies, the couple was determined to make their own formulation so his wife studied meat processing at Monster Kitchen to help her carry out their plan. She succeeded and added Siomai as their product.
Luckily in 2012, Roland and Charlotte heard about DOST and qualified as one of the beneficiaries of the Small Enterprise Technology Upgrading Program (SETUP). DOST enabled them to acquire the technology they need to meet the demands of their growing customers and now their business is called RL Bigbite and Restaurant.
Photo courtesy of Ritchie Mae L. Guno, DOST-X
Through DOST’s technical assistance, RL Bigbite was able to standardize the quality of their meat without preservatives, increase their production, improve the quality of their product, and improve packaging and labeling. With increased income, Roland and Charlotte stabilized the management of both the main and the Maramag branch and expanded the business to serve not only snacks but also lunch meals.
Roland believes that if you’re honest with your products then it is certain that you deserve good feedback from customers which will likely invite more customers from other places. He also believes that all our dreams can come true if we have the courage to pursue them. You can have anything in life if you sacrifice everything else for it. A dream doesn’t become reality through magic; it takes sweat, determination, and hard work.
To date, RL Bigbite and Restaurant today .has fully refunded its SETUP project with DOST and are enjoying the benefits of improved productivity and product competitiveness.
