PORAC, Pampanga – Prudencio “Pruds” Garcia, president of Mekeni Food Corp. (Mekeni) based in Barangay Balubad here, hurriedly left his office Thursday morning after receiving a call from his father.
The certified public accountant (CPA) and top executive of Mekeni had to accompany his 84-year-old father, Felix Garcia, to the hospital for a much-needed check-up.
Pruds and his four brothers are board members of the family-owned corporation and they will drop everything – be it personal or work-related –when they are summoned by their father.
Pruds and his brothers – Nardo, Lito, Adrian and Doods – have considered the old man not just responsible father but as “role model” in running Mekeni, which started as a backyard industry at Balubad in 1986.
“It’s not only us five brothers who we see our father as a role model but also the many workers in Mekeni and in our community. He has shown us the true value of hardwork, perseverance, patience and the unquestionable desire to help others. Mekeni will not be successful without his vision and constant guidance .
We are so privileged to have him as our father,” said Pruds.
Felix and his late wife Meding started their small business primarily selling “tocino” in front of their house. With no helpers, they had to rely on each other to face hard times raising their all-male children.
Today, Mekeni employs at least 1,200 people, 90 percent of whom are from Pampanga.
Felix’s desire to help their barangay mates was most evident as more than half of their employees are from Balubad.
Pampanga 2nd District Board Member Fritzie David-Dizon, who also hails from Porac, said the devastation wrought by the eruption of Mt. Pinatubo in 1991 caused terrible misery to Mekeni and its immediate community of Balubad and most areas in their hometown. But the problem had only made Felix and his family to rise above the huge challenge, she added.
“Mekeni made our hometown not just well-known but it has provided much needed jobs and income for Porac,” said David-Dizon.
She added Mekeni “is a model for all companies to patronize and help their own.”
Since it started operations, Mekeni has been a firm believer in giving back to the community that first patronized and helped them grow the brand. Rising from the other crisis such as the foot-and-mouth (FMD) disease outbreak in 1996 and the devastating Asian financial crisis in 1997, Mekeni counted on each member of the family and the community where they started, to help in the rebuilding process.
The most crucial and difficult times in the life of the 26-year-old company was the 1997 crisis, said Mekeni Human Resource Manager Marilou Uy. She said the Garcia brothers came almost to giving it all up and closing shop.
Uy, who joined Mekeni two years ago after her 17-year stint with the Department of Trade and Industry (DTI) in Central Luzon, said it was Felix that convinced his children to give it one more shot despite the slim chance of survival.
Felix, as quoted by Uy, told Pruds and his brothers that “we owe it to our workers to ask them if they will allow us to close down.”
“Then the employees told the owners that they were willing to sacrifice and urged the Garcias to continue the business,” added Uy.
Uy said that Felix had told their employees then “that you will not be sorry for your decision.”
Today, Mekeni is one of the top food processing corporations in the country and is dominant in the hotdog market along with Purefoods and CDO Foodsphere.
Pruds shared the secret of the company’s success.
“I always share these whenever I am asked similar question. Mekeni’s business is people building not just meat processing. This is very clear in our vision statement . We want to contribute to the improvement of the quality of life of people within and beyond our community,” said Pruds.
“We always strive to offer the best quality and safe meat products not only to sustain our business but also to delight our customers. I think our sincere concern to our people, suppliers, partners in private and government and most especially to our customers keeps us growing,” he added.
Mekeni’s achievement in food safety and quality remained its major success factor in its growth.
From a humble beginning, Mekeni became the industry leader in Food Safety and Quality when the company was recognized as the first ISO 22000-certified meat processing plant in Asia and 2nd in the world in 2006.
Just recently, Mekeni made history in the Philippine meat processing industry when it got the Food Safety System certification, the first hotdog meat processing plant given a certificate to the latest international standards on food porcessing.
“This makes us at par with global industry players,” added Pruds.
Mekeni is available in the whole country and has penetrated the Middle East through Dubai in the United Arab Emirates.
Mekeni’s plant sitting on a 25-hectare property produces about 60 metric tons of meat products daily.
It delivers almost the same daily production to their clients and orders increased by at least 30 percent more during the Yuletide season.
