Family, bam-i business perfect mix for mom

It started as a “gift item” that she would prepare for loved ones during special occasions like birthdays, Christmas parties and weddings.

Today 55-year-old Jerry Gloria’s bam-i is the source of a steady business.

Gloria’s bam-i venture is home-based, which gives her time to take care of her family, an important factor for any undertaking she takes.

More quality time with the family was the reason she gave up her 13-year job as an executive secretary for an Aboitiz company in the early ’90s.

Gloria said she wanted to focus on attending to the needs of her three sons.

The family’s source of income was her husband Cesar’s spare parts shop, JCG Marketing, at M.J. Cuenco, Avenue, barangay Mabolo, Cebu City.

However, she wasn’t contented staying at home. She worked as a part-time insurance agent for PhilAm Life Insurance Plans.

“So while I’m a stay-at-home mom, I also go out to sell insurance policies so that I could earn. I also made and sold fashion accessories,” she said.

That lasted until last year, when she heard about the Kapamilya Negosyo Na (KNN) program and its training on making fashion accessories.

“I joined the training but I did not know there was a business plan making session right after the training.”

She wanted to make a business plan for her accessories business but she changed her mind after learning from a co-trainee how much time and effort was needed especially when joining exhibits.

She didn’t pursue it.

“I wanted to do something that I could make and manage from my home,” she said.

Gloria then remembered her bam-i and how friends complimented it on it.

The noodle dish is made of canton (egg noodles) and sotanghon (vermicelli) vegetables and spices.

“They often tell me that my bam-i is very delicious and can even be compared to those sold at restaurants, so I thought why not make this a business,” she said.

She made a business plan and submitted it to the University of San Carlos, which organizes the KNN program with ABS-CBN.

The program involves joining a seminar and making a business plan. Organizers choose 10 winners, who are given P10,000 cash to start a business.

The grand-prize winner gets P15,000 cash.

Gloria’s bam-i business proposal won P10,000 and was chosen the grand-prize winner of KNN last year.

“I used the cash prizes in my business for better packaging materials as well as studying competitor brands by ordering from them and then comparing their bam-i with mine. I would improve my product by adding some ingredients that I see were in my competitors’ bam-i.”

Gloria said she did not know how to cook during her school days when she was living in a boardinghouse and would usually eat at fast-food chains.

“I learned how to cook through my sister-in-law who became the first critic of my bam-i.”

Gloria said she did not find it difficult to start getting orders because many already knew about her bam-i, which costs P200 for a serving for eight to ten people.

She gets at least two orders daily.

“Most clients just place orders then drop by at a given time to get them. The orders are usually for birthday parties and beach parties,” she said.

After 30 minutes of preparation, the dish can be picked up an hour after ordering.

“I slice the ingredients ahead and store them in the fridge, so that when I cook, everything is already prepared,” said Gloria.

Gloria said she secured a business permit because she wants to grow the business.

“I plan to build a takeout counter, which will have my signage in it and be very visible to people driving by,” she said.

She plans to add two more products in her menu.

“I’m now trying to learn how to make siomai and siopao so that I can offer them soon to my customers,” Gloria said.