Business comes and goes, and that is a given. But from what has been happening around us, staying agile and strong should be a must-have for any existing and new businesses to keep up with the challenging effects of the pandemic. More so, a business should invest and ride in technology to keep afloat and avoid becoming obsolete.
Brick and mortar will stay but incorporating technology in a business system is something that any entrepreneur should not take in for granted.
The future of digital has somehow been accelerated and pushed by the Covid-19, leading to more innovations, and jumping into digital transformation within a short span of period.
Creating Concept Stores to Create Flagship Stores
What initially was a mobile solution to a decrease in travelling due to the pandemic, has now shifted Primus Management House to opening stores in malls and putting up in-line restaurants. Primus was founded during the pandemic as a business venture that anyone can franchise, with mobile solutions to ensure profitability even during the pandemic. With restrictions easing up, Primus makes sure that it doesn’t get left out from the other restaurants re-opening their doors.
Primus started implementing restaurants into its franchise options. This will ensure a consistent customer flow and will allow easier operations of staff.
Primus and The Mamba Mentality
Former PBA D-League and MPBL basketball player, Inigo Arellano, started the franchising business to help families and aspiring businessmen earn revenue. Growing up in the States, and seeing the adventurous consumer behavior of Filipinos, Inigo decided that he would like to share the amazing food he grew up with to the foodie market of the Philippines. This was the idea behind Primus Management House. Inigo’s business acumen came from inspirations from his idols like Ray Kroc, Robert Kiyosaki, and Kobe Bryant.
“Kobe is popular in creating the Mamba Mentality. So, when it comes to the whole mindset of the Mamba Mentality, it follows having a relentless work ethics and being able to push yourself everyday to go after your dreams. That’s something that resonated with me, from basketball, and now I can translate it here in the business world. And up to this day, that motivates me, the Mamba Mentality.
Riding the Wave of Technology
“We know that with technology, you can’t fight it, you have to ride the wave. Technology’s going to be there to help us. We have installed CCTVs connected to a SIM card that gives access to all our franchisees to an app from their phone to see what’s happening to their kiosks or carts all the time. From our experience with our clients like in California and in Washington D.C., they were able to log-in and see their cart’s vendors, speak to them. That’s the beauty with technology, you have eyes and ears even if you’re from the luxury of your living room or straight out from your bed. We also have GPS access tracker installed to our carts, and that’s another great thing for our clients,” said Inigo, who is introducing two innovative food brands, each with franchisees all over the metro. The two brands as of the moment are Bad Dog!, a wild and popping BUY 1 TAKE 1 hotdog stall; and Chilog, a Korean rice bowl station that serves up Tapsilog combos with Kimchi rice. More food brands are yet to come, but right now, these brands are growing rapidly with one branch even reaching Sorsogon.
Taking from popular BUY 1 TAKE 1 business models in the Philippines, Primus Management House saw the opportunity to apply this to America’s darling snack—the hotdog. With shawarma and burgers adopting the model and making it their own, Primus is signing Bad Dog! up for that fight. Right now, Bad Dog! seems to be the rising underdog.
Bad Dog! has over ten franchises in the metro, one in Sorosogon, and expanding with every passing day. Being in operation for less than 6 months, Bad Dog’s! already gotten loyal customers who are always looking for its mouth-watering gourmet hotdogs. On the other hand, as of this writing, Chilog has over 10 franchises all over the metro. While the operations and positioning of the rice bowl station is still being polished, there’s no denying the product’s taste and appeal to the Filipino tongue.
“We also partner with a company that provides tablet with digital POS. The tablet itself is SIM card enabled which our clients used to punch in the orders, and it has a platform where franchisees can sign-in and see all the orders, all their sales, and all the numbers from their inventory right there from their laptop and phone. And this really works, especially for our overseas franchisees,” he added.
With this kind of technology, more business operating franchising model can learn from Primus how innovations can be a big help for businesses to stay agile and benefit business partners abroad while doing their franchise business in their home country.
“It’s all about adapting and being able to see solutions. Our carts are also crisis-proof because we can operate even during a crisis. With the current set ups of laws and even amidst the pandemic, we can still operate. Also, when all is settled and when we’re over with the pandemic, we still see our food cart succeeding for having an innovative business model,” Inigo shared on how Primus keeps the business afloat by adopting technology and future-proofing amid the pandemic crisis.
Franchising can prove to be a profitable venture. Growing together with a brand ensures that a franchisee’s store gains the same momentum as the brand does. However, as stable as this sounds, huge upfront fees and lack of terms may not be favorable for everyone. Primus Management House manages to keep its franchise fee for its brands as low as possible.
Mobile cart options and small indoor stalls start at an all-inclusive fee of Php 380,000. This includes everything from the stall/motor unit itself, the innovative technology that comes with it such as GPS, CCTV, and solar panel, food stocks, and crew uniform. Put a little elbow grease into that food-optimized business, and franchisees will be operating like a multi-million worth franchise.
As of writing, Primus Management House has already secured the passive income of over 10 families.