Bridging Cultures by Bringing European Flavors to the Filipino Palate, by Grace and Bettina Mangubat of Euro Spice

What does it take for a family-run distribution business to succeed? Grace Mangubat and Bettina Mangubat of Euro Spice share their entrepreneurial secret recipe.

For 15 years, Euro Spice has been toiling silently in the background, unseen. It comes with the business; importation and distribution is often behind the scenes, taking the backseat to the glitz and glamor of retail brand marketing. Even then, Euro Spice’s distribution network spans hotels, restaurants and large-scale food manufacturers across the country. And given that, there’s a good chance that, unknowingly, you’re familiar with Euro Spice’s products. You’ve probably tasted them. Today, propelled by the company’s success and driven by rapid changes in the industry and the world, Euro Spice is ready to move out of the background it has operated in for so long. In a bold move, the company is stepping into the spotlight by venturing into the world of retail.

To gain insight from Euro Spice’s founder and CEO, Grace Mangubat, The Business Manual traveled to Euro Spice’s headquarters in Dasmariñas, Cavite for an exclusive interview. We also spoke to the family-run company’s heir, Bettina Mangubat, Business Development Director at Euro Spice and Ingredients Inc., to learn about how the company weathered past challenges and how it  plans to expand in the future.

From ‘Accident’ to Thriving Business

Euro Spice began in 2009 with one woman, Grace Mangubat, operating the fledgling business from her home, and just one supplier. Unlike other startups that often begin with identifying an underserved opportunity, her corporation began in a radically different way. Grace describes the beginning of the company as almost an “accident.”

Yet through this accident, the company grew. Today, the company has a modest team of 30 running operations. One supplier has grown to 15, with Euro Spice’s offerings reaching over 100 products that range from spices to seasonings to meat processing products such as Viskase meat casings for sausages, hams and hotdogs.

The core business of Euro Spice is business-to-business (B2B), supplying restaurants, hotels and industrial food companies all over the Philippines with quality spices from Europe. Steadily, the company has diversified beyond spices to provide a lineup of products that is both deep and wide. It provides specialty products like wood chips for smoking sausages. At the same time, it has ventured into product lines for grocery sales with the German brand Kühne, and Hela, as well as complementary tomato-based products from the American brand Neil Jones’ Old California Tomatoes.

The Foundation of Euro Spice

Euro Spice began when Grace Mangubat left her corporate job to enter semi-retirement as a way to spend more time with her family.

Prior to founding the company, she worked in a multinational company, selling imported food items, mostly food ingredients from Europe. This would prove to be an invaluable link in the founding of Euro Spice.

Grace describes herself as a “technical person.” She graduated with a degree in Chemical Engineering from the University of Santo Tomas (UST) and took up masters in Food Science in the University of the Philippines (UP). After doing research and development work in manufacturing, she made the shift to technical and then to sales.

Speaking about those years, Grace says, “I go to Europe, I meet my suppliers. I also go to other Asian countries. So that’s where I became open, you know, meeting with different nationalities, eating their food, seeing their landscape and culture.”

While this European connection opened many opportunities for Grace, she ultimately chose family over work.

“That was a happy experience for me. But then after a while, I thought, Bettina is already growing up. She’s entering her teenage life. So I felt kind of guilty because I’m an absentee mom… I told myself, maybe it’s time for me to devote myself to becoming a mother. So I resigned from corporate life.”

Unknown to Grace, all the ingredients of what would one day be Euro Spice had already fallen into place: experience in the industry, technical knowledge of sales, her European connections, a focus on quality and, also, her focus on family.

When Opportunity Knocks

It didn’t take long for opportunity to find Grace Mangubat.

“After one or two weeks,” she recalls, “one of my suppliers from that corporate company called me. And he said, ‘Grace, we want to partner with you. We want you to distribute our spices in the Philippines.’”

Initially, Grace was worried about the capital for the business, a concern her supplier quickly dismissed. Grace recounts, “He said, ‘You can start in your garage. And don’t worry too much because we will support you by giving longer credit terms. So that’s how it started. That’s how Euro Spice started because of the pure trust of my supplier.”

Reflecting on the key moment that changed everything, Grace says, “So it was just an accident. I really did not have any intention to have my own business. But, you see, I think if you build your own integrity and if you do well in your job, I think opportunities will come.”

The Taste of Success

It didn’t take long for success to find Grace Mangubat either. 

Grace retells the early days of Euro Spice, saying, “When I set [the company] up, after a few days, I was so surprised because executive chefs from different hotels were calling me. And they were asking, ‘Do you have stocks of marjoram or sage or thyme?’ 

“I said, ‘Yeah, but only a few kilos, a few packs.’ 

“‘Yeah, deliver it to me.’”

While her initial reasons for starting Euro Spice were personal, she had also stumbled upon an underserved community of chefs and cooks–and this community was hungry for quality spices.

“So that’s how it started. And so I told myself, I better go to the chefs and discuss with them where are they putting this herbs and spices, right? So that’s what I did. I went to the hotels, and then I talked to the chefs, and they would tell me which particular cuisine that spice goes into.”

With its core market and core business in place, Euro Spice continued to grow over the years. And yet, Grace Mangubat was unaware of the company’s size and impact.

“Even from the beginning, we were already joining food shows,” she shares, “not only here in Metro Manila, but in key cities like Cebu and Davao. Our intention [was] that we would like our customers and would-be customers to see our products and to taste it, for example, in the food that we prepare.

“So little by little, every year, we joined these food shows until it became a big space that we occupied. Our customers were saying,’Wow, malaki na kayo. Ang galing naman.’ [Wow, you’ve grown big. That’s impressive.’] And then we thought, oh really? Are we now getting big or bigger? Maybe because we’re too busy with what we were doing, we didn’t know that we were already growing.”

Coming of Age

Meanwhile, Grace Mangubat’s focus on family was about to bear fruit with her daughter Bettina coming of age and joining the company.

Already, Grace’s decision to start her own business had proven to be beneficial with Bettina saying, “I really appreciated that when she started her own business, she had more time for me.”  But with Bettina—a graduate from the Asian Institute of Management with a Master in Entrepreneurship—heading Business Development and the company’s venture into retail, it would also prove to be providential.

Bettina grew up with Euro Spice right beside their house. And while she was never forced to join the family business, she eventually joined in 2018.

She recalls, “Looking back, I would remember that… when I would be in the house, there would be some customers who would audit our warehouse… So, you know, those snippets alone would make me remember that this business is important. So at the back of my mind, I had that responsibility of building on this legacy.”

Facing Challenges from a Rapidly Changing World

After her initial years in Euro Spice learning the business, the pandemic hit. For the company, it was both an immense challenge and an opportunity.

Bettina recalls, “We really had no customers because most of them are B2B. So we had to shift and we had to pivot.” With one of the strictest lockdowns in the world in place, restaurants and hotels were forced to halt business. The business model which had served Euro Spice so well was in jeopardy.

“We had to find other products that would serve other customers,” Bettina says on the company’s pivot towards retails, “which is why we had the opportunity to distribute other products that would serve the B2C [business-to-consumer] clients.”

Aware of the weight of her responsibilities at the time, Bettina continues, “As a second-gen owner, you have to pivot to what the times call for. And, you know, you can’t let your business down. You have a lot of employees to take care of.”

Emerging from the pandemic, more challenges arose. Consumers were fundamentally changed by their time spent in lockdown. Online purchases became the norm.

Grace Mangubat says, “As we have observed, the landscape in the food industry now is becoming even more competitive. So many products in the market you can find either in the groceries or online.”

Despite the challenges, Grace remains positive, returning to her focus on quality. She says, “We have such a great belief in what we sell. We believe that our products are of good quality. That’s why we are so passionate to promote it.”

At the same time, Grace is quick to spot opportunities, citing the examples of foreign markets and how Filipinos are quick to adopt new cuisines. After all, in the pantry of modern Filipinos, it wouldn’t be out of place to find a bottle of kimchi or a bottle of sriracha (a product Euro Spice also sells). Why not a bottle of sweet mustard? Sauerkraut? Or pickled gherkins?

“These particular products are being sold in almost all the supermarkets in Europe,” Grace explains. “So we would like to bring it here. And since Filipinos are very much open to different cuisines and they would love to try, Filipinos would like to try something that’s new.”

To achieve this goal, Euro Spice will have to reinvent itself to succeed in the retail space, a role which Bettina Mangubat is leading.

The challenge and the opportunity is clear, and Grace has a plan. She says, “I think our strategy is first to build a community and find a niche market for our particular product. And since it’s retail, then we have to have a good marketing strategy also. And then also to have an efficient operation. So I think we have to merge marketing and technology and of course social media.”

Kühne Leading the Charge

Leading the charge for Euro Spice into the retail space is the German brand Kühne. While relatively unknown here in the Philippines, it is ubiquitous in Europe with Kühne products commonly found in groceries.

“They’re really well known for their grocery lines such as mustard, gherkins, sauerkraut, and red cabbage,” Bettina Mangubat explains about the 300-year-old brand. “So it’s actually European fine foods that you would find in your cupboards… and you just have it here in the Philippines.”

“We really wanted to represent them in the Philippines for several years. But it took a while for them to have the Kühne brand represented in the Philippines because they didn’t know that there was a market… They really asked me, who would eat sauerkraut in the Philippines? Or who would eat gherkins?”

Bettina and Grace maintained their belief in the brand and have been representing Kühne for two years now. What’s more, they were right. In a recent exhibit, Kühne products received an overwhelmingly positive response from consumers.  

“It’s been a really exciting time for us,” Bettina says, “because even in our WOFEX (World Food Expo) exhibit, a lot of people were very happy and were very excited that this brand is here already. So with that, we found some distributors as far as Davao, Palawan, Puerto Galera…”

Mother and Daughter In Charge

For any family business, working together can often be yet another challenge to add to the long list of challenges entrepreneurs face. How do Grace and Bettina answer this challenge?

“So me and my mom, we have a very fun and tight relationship,” Bettina says. “We really talk about anything with business or personal matters. So I’m very happy that I have a boss who nurtures what I can do and who really pushes me to further the business.”

Grace tells the story of a time when she saw Bettina crying. “I asked her, Bettina, why are you crying?” Grace recounts. “And then she said, ‘Mom, I’m so overwhelmed with so much things to do.’”

Without hesitating, Grace told her daughter, “You should just relax. I mean, take one thing at a time. So do not be so pressured. So you have to have time management.

“But then after saying this, she again cried and cried. And I said,’Why are you crying?’ And she said, ‘Mom, I know all of these things, but I’m just telling this to you. I’m just pouring it out.’”

Grace learned an important lesson then on when and where to draw the line between mother and manager. She says, “I guess maybe she just wanted somebody to empathize with her. So at that time, she wants a mom that is compassionate, not the manager.” 

Entrepreneurial Lessons

Through the many ups and downs Grace and Bettina have experienced through the 15 years of Euro Spice, here are some lessons for entrepreneurs hand-picked from our interview.

1. Persevere

Perseverance is at the top of the list of qualities Grace Mangubat believes entrepreneurs should have. She says, “From the first job to where I am now, I think it’s more on being focused, being more persevering, and probably… problem-solving qualities because I came from technical, right? So I think those qualities really helped me a lot in my entrepreneurial journey.”

2. The Power of Negotiation

The second thing Grace mentions is “the power of negotiation.” She says, “It’s very important. But you get to learn this through a lot of experience and a lot of mentoring also.”

3. Find a Mentor

With the mention of mentorship, Grace admits that she was fortunate to have found a mentor during her years in corporate—a boost every entrepreneur should seek. 

“Before,” she says, “my boss was really so supportive of me. He always guides me. Whenever I go to a certain customer, he would brief me on what to say, you know, if it’s an owner or if they’re… on the technical side or on the manufacturing side.”

4. Be Professional

Rather than provide soundbites, Grace focuses on sound advice, on the fundamentals. She says, “Key learning, first of all… you really have to be professional. So you really have to know how to present yourself, be it in a corporate manner or, for example, even if the business is just small or even if it’s big. You have to adjust the way you talk, the way you deal with people.” 

5. Set the Foundation

Focusing once again on fundamentals, Grace advises to pay attention to setting the foundation for the company you’re building. She recounts that registering the company was one of the first things she did. “That’s what I did,” she says. “I started with a corporation already. And I got the support of another friend who became our financial manager at that time… I had to make everything legal in terms of the business.”

6. Know Your Product

Bettina, like Grace, also focuses on business fundamentals. She shares how she spent her first years in Euro Spice, getting to know the company’s products to get a handle of the business. “I really had to know our products,” she says. “And I really had to consult my mom and know how to better serve our customers…”

7. Delight Your Customers

In getting to know the business, Bettina learned the secret recipe for Euro Spice’s success—its vision. She says, “I found out that really our vision is to delight our customers and to serve what their needs are.”

Advice for Entrepreneurs

Grace and Bettina Mangubat have both traveled far in their entrepreneurial journey. In fact, this September, Grace Mangubat will be awarded by her alma mater UST with the Nonagintennial Award (NONAA) for Entrepreneurship, in recognition of her achievements with Euro Spice. What final advice do they have for entrepreneurs who are just starting out on their journey?

Bettina speaks once more about perseverance, echoing the lessons her mother mentioned. She says, “My advice for second-gen owners would be never give up. In this time where everything is instant, it’s easy to give up… But as an entrepreneur or as a second-gen owner, you have a legacy and you have a role to continue the business. So use that motivation to bring the business further. Don’t let those challenges bring you down.”

Grace, meanwhile, focuses on self-discovery and opportunity.

“I think first of all, you have to discover yourself,” she says. “From there, you have to plan and see. Do you really want to enter business or do you really want to just be an employee? Because it’s very critical. After discovering [yourself], you have to know if you’re really serious, if you really want to go into business. 

For Grace, what is important after this voyage of self-discovery is to have a plan to guide you. She continues, “If you have decided, make sure that you have a plan. It’s very important that you have a plan so that this will be your guide. 

“In business, for me, it’s a must that you have a plan, something like a roadmap… And then the next is just do it. Since you love what you’re doing, I’m sure you’re going to continue, you’re going to persevere. For sure, there will be a lot of struggles. But then if you love what you’re doing, you don’t take [difficulties] as a mistake, but rather as a stepping stone to more opportunities.”

Text VINCENT SALES

Photography KIERAN PUNAY of KLIQ, INC

Videography EXCEL PANLAQUE of KLIQ, INC

Art Direction ANDREA SANGCO

Sittings Editor RJ LEDESMA

Shoot Coordination TONI MENDOZA

Shot on Location EURO SPICE, DASMARINAS, CAVITE