Last May 2015 my wife and I decided to put Sophie’s Gourmet to its rightful place…everybody’s kitchen. So together with 120 bottles of our variants, we set our foot to conquer the Pahiyas Festival in Lucban, Quezon. Good thing that it is the birth place of my “inay” (mother) so we were able to set-up our booth in the home of my “tiya” (auntie). Usually the house is always assigned to be one of the streets to be decorated for the festival. We arrived a day before so that we could take advantage of our prospects since it was a weekend. However, heavy rains from late afternoon until late night refrained tourists and locals to go out of the streets. Leaving us with only six bottle sold.
With 114 bottles left, my wife and I were determined to exhaust all of it with all possible means. So with a little bit chant of “Bottled sardines! & Gourmet-ed Sardines” here and there, people took notice of our booth. (Good thing that my wife has great sense of taste, our booth was indeed eye catching.) Slowly, all sorts of people started filling our booth. Some for free taste, some for queries, some for curiosity and off course some for all of it. But the great thing about it is that unconsciously our sale was gradually picking-up. And by 3:00pm we were on our last 14 bottles. I told my wife to call it a day but she was really determined to have a sold out. And just like any supportive husband I could not say no so we did the impossible. We did it! We sold everything!
Yet it is true that our first venture put a little cash in our pockets, it was the experience that made it more meaningful. It was a test of humility, care, passion, relationship and faith that made it a success. And we believe that this is what our product is all about. Sophie’s Gourmet is about building good relationship. Through food, people communicate by sharing stories… and this is our own story that we would like to share to all of you.
Sophie's Gourmet 