Big Chill quenches the thirst for fresh fruit shakes

By Anne de la Cruz

Sometime in 1994, Cheese Ledesma went to Boston and came across a bar that sold fresh fruit shakes. This gave her the idea of putting up a similar business upon her return to the Philippines.
“I thought to myself that if a cold refreshments place could do well in a cold place like Boston, what more here in a country like the Philippines that is really hot and has most of the fruits in the market,” she elaborates. “That’s when I decided to work on Big Chill.”
When she returned to the Philippines, she contacted her friend, Christine Laman, and started working on developing the product.
When both ladies graduated from De La Salle University, they each received P100,000 as graduation gifts from their respective families. They pooled their resources together and after six months of product development, research, and taste testing, the management of Ayala Land gave the go-signal and The Big Chill opened its first branch in Greenbelt I in December 1994.
The Big Chill introduced a new concept of fruit shakes. They started with six basic flavors – strawberry, orange, pineapple, mango, apple, and buko. Their first employees consisted of two service crew workers who alternated as mixer and cashier.
“We were very well received by the market and in about a year’s time, we were able to open a second store,” Ledesma recalls.
But while the product was doing well, Ledesma said they were having problems with the way the store looked. When they were starting out, Ledesma had their sales staff dressed in black shirts, long black skirts, and straw hats.
“The hats were so big that they had a hard time keeping them on when they were preparing the orders,” she recounts. “That was one of our birth pains and we decided to change our look.”
By January 1996, Big Chill replaced its cart with a new and improved, eight-square meter, L-shaped kiosk which carries an attractive fresh fruits display. The look, according to Ledesma, was more tropical and adapted to the local market.
In addition to Big Chill, Ledesma also owns Nami Resort in Boracay. The resort caters to a high-end market and is meant to give Boracay travelers a memorable experience. Also, capitalizing on Filipinos’ love for singing, Ledesma, together with her brother, opened Karaoke King. It is a recording booth that gives budding singers the opportunity to come up with their own CD.
“I really enjoy starting new businesses and I really enjoy the challenges that come with opening a new business,” she shares.
Over the past ten years, Big Chill has grown to 18 stores and has branches all over Metro Manila and in Cavite. With 40 employees under her employ, Ledesma attributes the success of Big Chill to quality products and a commitment to freshness, better management and control systems, and improved service marketing.

“Big Chill is the only juice bar that uses fresh, raw, and preservative-free
fruits and vegetables in all our beverages,” Ledesma explains. “Our best seller is the strawberry shake and its combinations. And if the fruit is not in season, we tell our customers that it is not available.”
Ledesma makes it a point to listen to her employees and is a strong believer in empowerment. “Everybody’s idea is valuable and I want my people to decide and learn how to make decisions on their own. You could say that this is my way of promoting the entrepreneurial spirit.”

So far, Ledesma says that she and Laman have no plans of franchising even if they receive hundreds of inquiries on the subject. “Handling other people’s money is a very big responsibility and I don’t think we are ready for that right now,” she explains. “We might consider regional franchising but we are still studying that.” The ladies are also looking to integrate a food product with the shakes Big Chill serves so that it will be a complete meal in itself. Another idea being looked into is making Big Chill products available in the supermarkets. Ledesma stresses, however, that nothing is definite as of now.
Her advice to those who plan to go into a similar business is to look for a unique product and not settle for second best. Location, she says, is critical but it is also important to standardize the product so that customers will really appreciate what are being offered to them.