SLERS Chicharon: A New Twist for an Auld Favourite

Ofelia "Fely" Cosin Pelaez started making her famous "SLERS" Ham in 1969 at their backyard in Camp Phillips of the Del Monte Plantation, Bukidnon where hubby Raul Pelaez, Sr. was a department head with Del Monte, then known as Phil. Packing Corp.

The brand name SLERS is an acronym of the names of Fely's children (Shirley, Litlit, Earl, Ray and Sharon). "We had a family meeting to decide what to call the ham Mom was starting to sell," recalls her daughter Mercedes "Litlit" Mejia, who with hubby Ardi has been managing SLERS Industries, Inc. since 1987. "Like a typical Filipino family, we chose an acronym of our names."

However, although it was SLERS Ham which established it as a distinctly Cagayan de Oro marquee, these days more people, especially visitors from outside the city, know SLERS for its crunchy Chicharon, or pork rind crackers.

The shift to chicharon from hams was a gradual transition which started when Litlit and Ardi took charge of what had by then become a famous pasalubong item synonymous with Cagayan de Oro, and decided to diversify SLERS product lines to include processed meat foods to better meet increasing competition.

Over the years, giant food processing companies based in Manila, Davao and Cebu had flooded the market with cheaper, commercialized versions of ham but the famous ham maker of Cagayan de Oro remain had stuck with its traditional home-cooked high quality hams produced by the family business.

Litlit admits they have had to make changes in their ham's formulation over the years in response to their customers' tastes. Many of these changes have been undertaken in consultation with experts from the Canadian Executive Service Overseas-Business Advsisory Program (CESO-BAP).

"Four years ago I was introduced to CESO-BAP assistance at the office of then DTI-10 Director Ninfa Along-Albania," Ms. Mejia said. "I did not have to think twice about the offer made by (Sr. Business Development Officer) Arlene Oxales. I saw the opportunity to benchmark the industry practices of world class producers of produced meats. Imagine having an expert adviser who will come to our plant to study and evaluate our business and then give us free advice!"

So far, SLERS has availed of the expertise of three experts: EA Soren Sondergard for product development and production improvement; Chuck Gouett, a Canadian expert for sales and marketing strategies (distribution channels) and Filipino expert Oliver Tiu, for sales organization and strategies.

Mr. Tiu is an expert advisor from the Philippine Business for Social Progress which has established a program called Corporate Volunteers for Enterprise Development (CVED) to take over for CESO-BAP when it ends next year and assure the program's sustainability.

"Our two latter experts agreed on universal concepts on marketing and yet considered the cultural uniqueness of the local market. After which a general marketing plan was formulated. What a blessing indeed!" Ms Mejia said.

Since then, SLERS has opened four kiosks in Limketkai Center and Robinsons' (in Cagayan de Oro) and the Mall of Asia in Manila. When the new SLERS Express Meals opened last 29 August 2006 at the Gaisano City Mall, no less than Canadian Ambassador Peter Sutherland and City Mayor Vicente Emano were the guests of honor.

What started out as a hobby became a cottage industry, and later a family corporation, selling in Cagayan de Oro, and now in Manila, Davao and Cebu . From PhP1.8 million in 2005, sales zoomed 83% to PhP3.3 million in 2006.

The shift from SLERS Ham to SLERS Chicharon as its sales leader is typical of the changes the company has made with assistance from its CESO-BAP experts.

"We had an idle 600 sq.m. space we formerly used to make nata de coco for Del Monte," said Mrs. Pelaez. "We converted it to a chicharon production facility and it has since become our leading item."

SLERS Chicharon is made from pork rinds imported from Belgium and Brazil, because local sources could not meet the product quality standards which make the product unique and tasty. The new venture employs 10 female packers and 3 male "cooks" who dip the pork rinds in ultra hot animal fat oil for that special crunch.

"Our assistance to projects like CESO-BAP, especially in Mindanao, aims at poverty alleviation through jobs creation," said Tom Carroll, counselor and head of aid for the Canadian International Development Agency (CIDA) during a visit last week to the new chicharon-making facility. "SLERS is an exemplary showcase of how we are attaining this objective through our assistance to the private sector. I'm very impressed at the very concrete impacts that have taken place in the short period that we've been here."

30 -