Ronald Daniel Mascariñas, President & General Manager of BAVI, delivered his virtual address, “Your Character Is Your Destiny[2]” at the 49th Commencement Exercise of UP Los Baños, 07 August 2021. An animal science alumnus of UPLB, “which he credits for forming his ‘Puso Para sa Pinas’ (Heart for the Philippines), a character trait he now challenges graduates to cultivate.”
He tells the story in 2,323 words of how BAVI started – and succeeded. He was head of Purefoods when San Miguel Corporation bought Purefoods and reorganized it – and many of his co-workers lost their jobs. He says, “A lifetime of security went down the drain and many did not know what to do.”
I left Purefoods and considered my options. Among several, I took on the generous offer of financial backing and a free hand by the Cheng family. They wanted me to build a company and run it the way I ran Purefoods. I started BAVI with my people who lost their jobs from Purefoods.
Truly, Mr Mascariñas cared about his people, and so he started a new company with them. Birds of a feather he flocked together!
Leading my own company, (I) and my team were consumed by work. Given another chance, (nights we turned into days to make sure we succeeded in our new livelihood venture.)
We ventured from a traditional poultry integrator to a retailer of roasted chicken by rolling out Chooks-to-Go. That was purely a defensive move, but in Chooks, we found our true champion. It became our flagship brand and cash cow.
Above, the chicken image says, “Laki Sa Alaga, Hindi Sa Gamot” (Grown With Care, Not With Drugs) and “Zero Antibiotics” (image[3] from Foodbevg.com).
After 20 years (with) BAVI, we have grown to become the largest roasted-chicken company in the land with close to 2,000 retail outlets. We are bigger than our numbers 2 to 10 closest competitors put together.
Wow!
Then pandemonium visited with Covid-19 lockdowns.
We were not prepared to deal with the harsh quarantine measures. Within a week, our cash flow dried up. People just stopped buying our products… We were on the road to bankruptcy.
But Mr Mascariñas knew, “Our most valuable assets (were those employees who cared).” BAVI had them.
I saw the boundless faith, uncommon courage and sterling commitment in the men and women in our ranks who went out… to peddle our chicken in communities on lockdown. Most of them didn’t have to do it. It was not in their job description. But they took to the streets to sell chicken, anyway, and with full knowledge of the personal risks to themselves of contracting the virus.
When enough of your people care enough, your company becomes the very best!@517
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