Agriculture.ph Blog

Birth of Uncle Frank roasted coffee and other success stories

SORSOGON CITY—From an ambulant vendor of bottled vinegar and soy sauce 25 years ago, Francisco Aranda became a successful businessman who was responsible for putting Sorsogon province on the map when it comes to coffee.

In 2008, Aranda received the “Outstanding High Value Commercial Crop Farmer” from the Department of Agriculture’s (DA) Gawad Saka Awards.

He was among the five successful businessmen in Bicol to received this year’s Halyao Awards during the 5th Bicol Business Week celebrations in Naga City on May 15.

The affair, now on its fifth year is the region’s biggest annual gathering of businessmen, traders and entrepreneurs. A highlight of this event is the Halyao Awards whose roster of recipients include business tycoon Lucio Tan. Known as the “Bicolano taipan,” Tan grew up in Naga City.

This year’s Halyao awardees also include Robert Obiedo of Camarines Sur, Socorro Buban of Albay, Luz Ricasio of Camarines Norte, and Rafael Chan Lim of Masbate. A preHispanic Bicol word, halyao means merchant.

Halyao recognizes the exemplary achievements of Bicolano businessmen whose “bold strokes and strong drive to turn Bicol into an engine of growth have spurred the generation of countless jobs, new industries, more wealth and opportunities that together bring new hope and optimism for the betterment of the land they love the most: the Bicol Region.”

From a merchant with a pushcart, Obiedo made it big time.

Now a respected community leader, he also owns a posh hotel in Naga City and a chain of department stores across Bicol.

Buban is founder and owner of the oldest surviving bus company in the region that offers the lowest fare in the Bicol-Manila route, while businesswoman Ricasio who used to sell fish in the market now owns and manages her own empire of pawnshops, hotels and copra trading.

Lim is a certified public accountant who gave up a high-paying job in Manila to manage a family-owned merchandising business in his hometown of Cataingan, Masbate and pioneered an agri-veterinary store, a first-class shopping mart and other businesses that offer items his townmates basically need.

Aranda is exalted for his pioneering venture in Sorsogon’s coffee industry and establishing Uncle Frank Roasted Coffee—the brand name for his organically-grown kapeng barako he himself grows in a 5-hectare farm in the outskirt of the city.

The product, certified by the International Coffee Organization Certifying Agency, is a prized item in various outlets nationwide and leading malls and grocery stores in Metro Manila.

Aranda is also responsible for the organization of the coffee growers association here with over 100 members. He shares with the group the technology he acquired in producing quality coffee and establishing business as a stable source of livelihood.

From his hometown in Batangas, Aranda settled in this provincial capital in 1984 and started from scratch a home-based business of bottling vinegar and soy sauce he himself sold in a pushcart on sidewalks downtown. He also moved around to sell his products directly to buyers at home.

His perseverance and industry started paying off when out of his savings he was able to acquire a 5-hectare land in barangay Cabid-an, not far from the city proper. At that time, this provincial capital was still a municipality and land was cheap.

With his family, Aranda cleared the area and bought a sack of coffee berries from, a known producer of high quality coffee in the country, giving birth to the first organic coffee plantation in the city.

He produced kapeng barako, or Liberica, a variety of plump, rounded berries popular in Sorsogon for its distinct aroma and flavor,  Aranda told the BusinessMirror over the weekend.

It is tolerant to drought and could be grown in almost all types of soil, he said.

He uses compost and poultry manure as fertilizer and has adopted regular pruning to ensure that the height of trees remain right for easy harvesting. Pruning shoots also helps produce more branches, flowers and berries, and promotes better light penetration and aeration, Aranda said.

At present, Aranda said his farm has 4,500 trees that produce 150 sacks of coffee berries on average in its eight-month cycle.

“I am now a happy man because aside from a stable source of income for my family offered by this coffee plantation and the other businesses I was able to put up out of this venture, I can also provide jobs for my village mates especially during harvest time,” he said in Sorsogueño dialect.

He said, the secret to quality coffee is the roasting process that thrives on the right amount of heat and timing to achieve the desired flavor.

On marketing, Aranda explained that although coffee commands a good price its pricing depends on the quality and variety of the beans. A sack of roasted coffee costs P8,900.

He said he sells milled coffee for P260 per kilo—packed and labeled Uncle Franks Roasted Coffee, which is a brand registered with the Department of Trade regional office for Bicol.

“My vision along with all the members of the local coffee-growers association of which I am the incumbent president is to make Sorsogon a top producer of organically-grown coffee, that is why we are open to new technologies and techniques,” Aranda said.

He readily offers his farm for activities that demonstrate technology. The group’s slogan is: May pera sa kape…tanim na! (There’s money in coffee…plant now).”

Written by Danny O. Calleja

Source: Business Mirror