Entrepreneur Shares Secrets to His Successful Bangus Business

An entrepreneur from Dagupan City shared some of his trade secrets on how he was able to build his bangus business, Mr. Dagupeño.

Eric Montoya of Mr. Dagupeño said he started his bangus business in December 2016. Hailing from Dagupan, Eric thought of expanding their business and letting customers from NCR and other nearby areas to taste their delicious bangus dishes.

bangus mr. dagupeño
Image by Pera Paraan via Facebook

Like any smart entrepreneur, Eric wanted to set his business to be apart from the rest. Aside from offering deboned and grilled bangus, Mr. Dagupeño also has a variety of unique dishes.

“Right now, ang latest innovation namin is yung filling [ng bangus] ay iba’t ibang klase,”, Eric explained on GMA’s Pera Paraan.

Apart from classic inihaw and baked bangus, customers can also enjoy bangus sa gata, bangus ala pobre, bistek, rellenong bangus and more.

Starting a bangus business

According to Eric, he started his bangus business with a capital of P150,000 because of the equipment needed to have a commissary. While this may seem a bit hefty to those looking at small-time business, the investment can easily be returned in a few months’ time. A capital for a piece of a classic inihaw na bangus is P160 and it sells for P295. Eric said they earn from P10,000 to P20,000 a day from one store alone.

bangus business mr. dagupeño
Image by Pera Paraan via Facebook

With hardwork and constant innovation, Mr. Dagupeño has expanded into many street corners offering healthy bangus dishes to everyone. They now have 17 branches and are still looking at opening more.

Making the bestseller inihaw na bangus of Mr. Dagupeño

Katherine, Eric’s wife, shared the recipe to their classing grilled bangus. First, you must check if the bangus is fresh. Check if the scales are complete, the eyes should be clear and not reddish. Meanwhile, the gills should still be red inside to be considered fresh. The bangus belly should also be firm to touch.

When you are a bangus seller, you must know that the fish loses around 25- 30 percent of its weight once it is deboned.

inihaw na bangus mr. dagupeño
Image by Pera Paraan via Facebook

To make Mr. Dagupeño’s popular inihaw na bangus, they use onions, tomatoes, calamansi and salt and pepper to taste. First, rub the calamansi to the bangus belly and season it with salt and pepper. Then, you can start grilling. A tip when grilling bangus is to flip it every 2 minutes. It is cooked for 20 minutes. You don’t want to overcook the bangus because it will become dry.

After grilling, the bangus belly is now filled with their secret recipe of “classic sauce.” Add in the rest of the onion, tomatoes.

Sally Mae

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