On Tuesday, Fresh Options celebrated its 10th anniversary with a gala night at the Heroes Hall here.
Fresh Options began selling its produce on April 1, 2005 from a small space at SPC Supermarket in Angeles City.
Today, Fresh Options has 74 branches in Pampanga, Bataan, Olongapo, Zambales, Tarlac, Nueva Ecija, Bulacan, Metro Manila and soon in the Visayas and Mindanao.
Earlier, a press conference was held at the Hall’s Amphitheater where Fresh Options President CEO Dr. Robert Lo and his executives briefed the media on their company’s operations and future plans.
Lo said Fresh Options compete on “quality” in the market since it is the only company in the industry that conducts a weekly quality audit.
“We deliver our products in crates instead of sacks like our competitors,” he said.
“Our company maintains the freshness of its meat,” Lo said adding that most of their competitors are using imported meat frozen in freezers while Fresh Options has its own farm.
“All products are displayed in chillers since the purpose is to adhere very strictly to the shelf life of the meat,” said Dr. Wendell Umali who is in charge of research and development (R&D).
“The company’s R&D department is very keen in observing the shelf life of its products and adopts the first in, first out system,” he added.
Lo said Fresh Options’ is “different from other meat shops because we deliver base on the orders of our store operation supervisors; so we don’t deliver whole carcass because there are some particular demands of the market in different places.”
He said in Pampanga, Kapampangans like the pork face for their sisig while in Manila they like spare ribs, “so there are specific demands for each market.”
“Other meat shops they have to deal with the whole carcass,” he added.
Fresh Options produce its own pig and poultry feeds for its livestock, slaughter the animals, processed them and dressed them for its meat shops and retail operations.
Fresh Options is available at Water Mart supermarkets and Super 8 supermarkets here as well as in 15 stores in Manila like Welcome Supermarkets and convenient stores like All Day Minimarts and All Day Supermarkets.
It can also be delivered right at your doorstep within the five-kilometer radius of a Fresh Options store.
Soon, it will be sold at Ayala- Gold, the partnership supermarket of Ayala Malls and Puregold Supermarket.
Lo said actress and celebrity cook Manilyn Reynes will soon be endorsing Fresh Options.
Meanwhile, Fresh Options is also now into processed meat products like the classic tocino and logganiza as well as ready to heat cooked viands.
HACCP certified
Lo said Fresh Options is at par with international standards when it comes to safety since it is certified by the Hazard Analysis and Critical Control Points (HACCP). This is a preventative food safety system in which every step in the manufacture, storage and distribution of a food product is scientifically analyzed for microbiological, physical and chemical hazards.
Fresh Options is also an ISO 22000 certified which is a standard developed by the International Organization for Standardization dealing with food safety.
AAA slaughterhouse
Fresh Options will soon be establishing its own National Meat Inspection Service (NMIS) certified AAA slaughterhouse.
It also plans to construct additional buildings “to expand our pig and poultry farm to accommodate additional volume.”
