Financial Adviser: 5 Business Lessons Everyone Can Learn from the Founders of Cold Storage

A seafood business depends on more than having access to fish. It requires reliable suppliers, strict quality control and an understanding of what consumers are willing to put on their tables. For the late Mariano Qua, these became lessons learned over decades in the seafood trade.

As the founder of Cold Storage Seafood, Qua helped introduce Filipino consumers to a wider variety of seafood from around the world. His path to the business, however, began on the other side of the trade. Long before he became an importer, he was buying shrimp from local fishponds and selling Philippine seafood overseas.

This experience eventually led Qua to establish Cold Storage Seafood in 1996. Its first store opened along Banawe Street in Quezon City, at a time when frozen seafood was still unfamiliar to many Filipino consumers.

Over the years, Cold Storage grew beyond its original specialty stores. The company expanded into supermarkets and later built a broader customer base that included restaurants, hotels and other institutional clients.

The company also became a training ground for Qua's sons, Marco and Morris, who were exposed to its operations from an early age and eventually took on greater responsibilities within the company.

Today, Cold Storage is one of the country's largest seafood retailers and distributors, with more than 200 outlets in major supermarkets nationwide. Following their father's passing, Marco and Morris now lead the company as they carry forward the business Mariano built.

How did Mariano Qua turn decades of experience in the seafood trade into a business that could adapt as the market changed? And what lessons from their father continue to guide Marco and Morris as they take Cold Storage into its next generation?

Here are five business lessons entrepreneurs can learn from the late Mariano Qua, founder of Cold Storage Seafood:

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Entrepreneurs often discover opportunities before they fully understand how large they can become. Taking the first step gives them information they cannot always get from research alone. What they learn from the market can reveal ways to expand into related products, services or markets.

This is why a business does not always need to be built all at once. Entrepreneurs can begin with one opportunity, establish a foothold and add capabilities as demand grows. Each stage provides the experience, relationships and resources needed to take the business further.

Mariano Qua followed this pattern when he entered the shrimp business. He did not immediately invest in factories, farms and feed production. He began by trading shrimp as a sideline after learning that Negros had a large supply. More importantly, he went there himself and lived in the province for several years.

By staying close to the source, he learned how the industry worked and developed relationships with fishpond operators and people within the local business community. He even learned Ilonggo and eventually became fluent in the language.

This helped him communicate with suppliers, build relationships and better understand the people behind the industry. Rather than trying to manage the opportunity from Manila, he spent years close to the source and learned the business from the people who were part of it.

The opportunity became more valuable as his understanding of it improved. When demand from Japan created an export opportunity, he moved into exports.

Qua did not expand simply for the sake of becoming bigger. Each investment addressed something increasingly important to the business. Trading gave him access to supply. Exporting gave him access to a larger market. Processing facilities gave the family greater control over the product. Farming brought the business closer to production. By the late 1980s, the business had grown into an integrated operation covering feeds, farming, processing and exports.

“My dad’s family business was they were doing manufacturing of bags tapos nagbebenta sila sa Recto, mga ganyan,” Marco Qua says. “It was the business of my Ama (grandma), Angkong (grandpa), my dad, saka mga siblings.

“My dad was the youngest. My dad's family came from nothing eh. They came from Iriga, Bicol, and then moved to Manila. He studied at Chiang Kai Shek and then at UST, where he took up Marketing. After graduating, he helped with the family business.

“Single pa ang daddy ko at the time. Then my dad started in the shrimp business. I think this was during the mid-70s yata until nung nag-peak talaga siya nung mga 80s eh.

“He started trading shrimp as a sideline. Then someone, I think a relative or my Ama's friend, said there was a lot of shrimp in Bacolod or in Negros. So my dad went there on his own.

“He lived there for around two or three years. Maraming shrimp dun, maraming mga fishpond dun eh, diba? So he started buying shrimp and selling them to Manila.

“My dad became very fluent in Ilonggo. Close to his heart talaga yung Bacolod. He had a lot of stories about Bacolod. Sabi niya, he became close friends with the mayor, ganyan-ganyan. Kasi before, very tight-knit lang naman yung business community doon. Everybody knew each other.

“And if you hear his stories about nung nag-start siya, very detailed talaga. Kinikwento nga niya yung time niya sa Hinigaran. Parang natutulog siya, sabi niya ang dami raw ipis na lumilipad-lipad doon. So you could really see how he started from very basic conditions and built the business from there.

“As the shrimp trading business grew, there came a time when I think a Japanese company wanted to buy from him, so we ended up exporting.

“At that time, yun ang highest demand for Philippine shrimp was Japan eh. Yun ang main market natin. During the 1980s, Bacolod was like the shrimp capital, so I guess that's how my dad was introduced din to that industry.

“Then my dad started exporting prawns. Kasi during that time, yun yung boom na industry in the Philippines. So shrimp export yung first business ng dad ko.

“Ayun, it kept expanding naman,” Morris says. “It kept getting bigger and bigger. There was a time when my dad was able to control a significant part of the market in Bacolod. A lot of exporters here in Manila were already buying from my dad.

“When the operation became bigger, he came back to Manila and set up the business with his siblings. At that time, they slowly moved away from the family’s bag business. Pinokus na lahat dito sa shrimp, shrimp na.

“This was around the mid to late 1970s. Namatay si Angkong, so my dad came back to Manila. When he set up the company, his siblings gradually joined him in the operations because the business was getting bigger.

“Dati very lucrative ang export ng shrimp. My dad was one of the biggest. By the 1980s, we were setting up the factories in Bacolod, Cebu and Manila. In Cebu and Bacolod, lahat sinet-up yan during nung 80s until the early 90s.

“In 1988, we eventually went into feeds. Gumagawa kami ng mga feeds for shrimp. With Taiwan, fully integrated siya na operations na at once. So we had the shrimp feeds, then farming, processing and export. It became a fully integrated operation.

“Before, it was extensive farming. Extensive meaning very ano, very casual na feeding, ganyan. Our shrimps were big. Prawns are big, yung black tiger.

“Then Taiwan introduced intensive farming,” Marco says. “Yung feeds nila very high in ano, mga proteins. Ang yield nila before parang one year ang cropping. With intensive farming, nagiging dalawang beses, two to three times ang harvest mo per year instead of once a year lang. So syempre everybody wanted higher yields. Everyone was using the Taiwan technology.”

Markets can change for reasons entrepreneurs cannot control. When that happens, the challenge is to distinguish between a temporary setback and a more fundamental change in the conditions that made the business successful. If the change is structural, simply working harder at the old model may no longer be enough.

Adapting does not necessarily mean abandoning the existing business. A company can continue serving a market while experimenting with new products or business models. This allows entrepreneurs to explore new sources of growth without giving up a business that can still generate revenue.

Qua faced this problem when disease devastated shrimp farms, export volumes fell and competition from China and Vietnam increased. These were not problems that could be solved simply by selling more. The industry itself was changing.

Rather than abandon shrimp exports, Qua looked for another opportunity within an industry he already understood. When he saw frozen seafood in Singapore, he realized the family could use capabilities it already had. They knew seafood, had processing facilities and had relationships with overseas customers who could now become suppliers.

In effect, Qua reversed part of the business model. Instead of only exporting Philippine seafood, the family began importing seafood for the Philippine market.

“But intensive farming was good for only around five or six years,” Morris says. “After that, the shrimp started dying. They call it luminous. Parang nagba-bright yung mga white spots ng mga shrimp or mga prawns. Nagkakasakit. Kumbaga nasisira yung pond. Nagkaka-bacteria, parang ganon.

“At that time, we didn't know eh. Even the Taiwanese didn't know na ganyan pala mangyayari. Hindi namin alam ganyan pala yung magiging effect. This became a problem in the early 90s. Nagkaron ng crisis sa shrimp. So lahat ng shrimp eh. Drop talaga ang shrimp export namin. The whole industry was affected kasi lahat Taiwan tech yun eh. Everyone was using the Taiwan technology.

“Buong Negros wipe-out. Kasi before, lahat ng sugarcane, kinonvert to fishpond kasi sobrang lucrative ng shrimp. Negros is sugarcane capital. So ngayon binalik sa sugarcane kasi nga lahat ng ilagay mo doon, walang nabubuhay na shrimp. Tilapia lang daw nabubuhay.”

“By the mid-90s, the entire shrimp industry was already affected. During 1995, especially by the second half of the year, parang obviously humihina na talaga export,” Marco says. “Before, we were doing around four containers per week. Dumating sa point na parang nagiging four containers per month. I mean, the volume drastically decreased na.

“So parang syempre we needed to see what else we could do. Wala ka nang export eh, diba? Tapos yung presyo namin mahina, then competitors were coming in. Lumabas na si China, sila Vietnam. Nag-eexport Japan na rin.

“That was when my dad started thinking about what else we could do. There was one December in 1995 when nag-vacation siya to Singapore. My dad would usually go to supermarkets when he traveled. Parang nakita niya, bakit yung supermarkets sa ibang bansa puro frozen seafood? Nakita lang niya. Parang, ‘Uy, ganda. Bakit ang fresh?’ Even though it was frozen.

“Sa atin dito nung time na yon, walang frozen eh. Nung early 90s, mid-90s, wala tayong frozen seafood. Puro fresh, puro yung fresh sa palengke, ganyan. So my dad, pag-uwi dito, sabi niya, ‘Okay, why don't we start selling frozen seafood?’

“We already had relationships overseas because we were exporters. We exported to the US, Japan, Europe and other countries,so we had different customers in different markets. Suddenly, itong mga they became our suppliers na.

“Kasi syempre, kunyari sa US, ‘Oh, ano meron diyang isda?’ Japan, ‘Ano meron diyang isda?’ Canada, mga halibut, black cod. Before, bumibili sila ng hipon from us. Ngayon naging, ‘Oy, patulong. Ano mga isda niyo diyan na maganda?’ We started importing na. So that's how we started importing. From export to import.

“In 1996, nakita namin yung potential na maraming local market natin interested talaga sa frozen seafood. We were already exposed early on to the seafood business. Even nung mid-80s, pumupunta naman kami ng plant. Kaya nga alam namin tungkol sa mga nangyari sa shrimp, ganyan.

“So nung nag-import, parang nakita ko, ‘Uy, okay ah. Ganon pala yung importing ng seafood.’ Then on August 8, 1996, we opened our first branch of Cold Storage. Ito yung brand namin sa Banawe.”

“We were selling all frozen seafood,” Morris adds. “Halibut, black cod, salmon, sea bass, shrimp syempre. If I may add, we at that time, had a lot of local products, local seafood din, because we have factories in Bacolod, in Cebu. May buying station kami. My dad’s concept was is buying fresh, parang one-stop shop for sea food. We were the pioneer in frozen seafood. That was also my dad's first exposure to retail kasi before that, he was an exporter and wholesaler.

“Kasi naalala ko every Sunday kami nagkakahera pa nga doon eh. So it was a lot of learning nung first few years. At first, it was more about educating the market. You had to educate the market. Pero ang ganda ng feedback. Kasi parang, ‘Uy, may ganyan na pala.’ Parang specialty store pa ang dating nung time na yon. So parang people were curious. People would always go there and ask, ‘Anong binebenta niyo?’

“Kasi mid-Chinatown yung Banaue. We also had products like yung Hong Kong fish, yung sa mga restaurant, yung mga ganyan. Within the year, we started looking at expansion. The next year, naghanap na kami. Nag-expand. We opened in Asuncion, near Juan Luna. Kasi malapit sa Ongpin syempre.

“At first, the market was very Chinese. Ang naging feedback naman sa amin at that time was that the Chinese understood these kinds of imported products. Mga medyo open sa Western na Filipino-Chinese.

“Then we opened in Wilson, San Juan, until now nandyan pa rin siya. Then we also opened in Makati, at Anson Arcade. When we started, wala naman kaming study ng marketing. Kasi dati wala naman social media. So what happened was parang nagiging ano siya eh, parang word of mouth. Nake-kwento kwento siya. ‘Have you heard of this new store? There's a new store in Greenhills. Have you checked it out?’

“Then it caught the attention of the supermarkets. I think one of the first supermarkets that became interested was Rustan's. In 1998, they invited us to open inside Rustan's Supermarket in Makati. Yun na yung pinaka-first outlet namin sa Makati sa loob ng supermarket.

“Ang ganda ng reception nung time na yon. So slowly we added more stores. Then nakita din ni SM, Waltermart, hanggang yun. Slowly, gradually dumadami na yung mga outlets namin.

“We eventually focused on supermarkets. Puro supermarkets na. Rustan's, Robinson's, Marketplace, Shopwise. Halos lahat in Manila.

“We located in the seafood section, under frozen seafood. We had pre-packed products, and the products carrying the Cold Storage brand were ours.”

Growth becomes more sustainable when a company expands around capabilities it already performs well. Instead of pursuing every possible opportunity, entrepreneurs can identify what gives their business an advantage and find ways to apply that strength across more customers or markets.

A larger customer base can improve distribution efficiency and allow capabilities to be developed for one market to serve another, but getting bigger does not automatically create an advantage. Entrepreneurs should focus on what their business already does well and expand in ways that make those strengths more useful and efficient. When growth builds on a genuine advantage, scale can create opportunities that were not practical when the business was smaller.

When Marco and Morris Qua became more involved in the business, they recognized that a successful standalone store had limits. Rather than simply opening more specialty stores, they concentrated on supermarkets, where Cold Storage already had a presence and where the same basic model could be replicated across many locations.

The brothers did more than add outlets. They regularly visited supermarkets, studied different locations and adjusted their product mix according to each market. This helped Cold Storage expand from about 37 outlets to 105 within three years.

The larger network also strengthened its distribution advantage. With regular deliveries to supermarkets across Metro Manila, Cold Storage could serve nearby restaurants even when their orders were small. Scale therefore made customers economical to serve that might not have been viable for other suppliers.

Cold Storage also used its processing capabilities to serve restaurants that needed seafood in specific cuts and portion sizes. What the company had developed for retail became an advantage in food service, where its distribution network provided reach and its processing facilities provided customization.

The Quas also knew that scale did not mean expanding everywhere. As frozen seafood became widely available in supermarkets, they saw less reason to open more standalone stores and focused instead on channels where their existing strengths gave them an advantage.

“I think by 2005 , we had two branches, Banaue and Greenhills, and then 37 outlets,” Marco says. “This 37 was in mga Rustan's, SM, Shopwise, Robinson's and Waltermart. I have to say that our expansion was not that fast.

“But in 2008, when my brother and I had finished college. Sabi ng dad ko, ‘O sige, tumulong kayo dito.’ At first, both of us were assigned to the factory sa production. We were doing processing, packaging, slicing, ganyan. At that time, gumagawa na din kami ng sushi.

“When my brother and I became more involved, one thing we said from the beginning was, ‘We need to scale it.’ We had a strong standalone store in Wilson. But sabi ko, it's not going to be enough to support the whole company if isang store lang ang ano namin.

“So when we started out, we said, ‘We need to scale it. It has to be scalable.’ Nasa supermarkets na tayo eh. So let's focus on and study how to expand in supermarkets. There was a time when, on weekends, we would do five to six store visits.

“To the point na pag may bubuksan na bagong mall, pag nakita namin supermarket, we could already say, ‘Ah, hindi 'to mabubuhay,’ or ‘Baby market pa 'to. At least dalawa, tatlong taon pa.’

“When we started handling it, I think we had around 37 or 38 outlets. In the span of three years, we expanded to 105. Nag-aggressive expansion kami nung time na yun with my brother. Siya sa office, siya sa marketing. Ako sa production. Halos every week nag-open kami ng outlet nung time na yun eh, sa mga supermarkets. Our supermarket outlets operated as concessions. It's like we're renting space inside the supermarket.

“Ang advantage is we get to choose anong inventory ang ilalagay namin dyan. We're not tied to the supermarket's purchase orders, but nandun din yung sakit ng ulo namin. We have to understand the behavior of each supermarket.

“For example, if high-end yung supermarket, madali lang yon kasi almost anything you put there can sell. Hindi nga tumitingin ng price ang mga customer don eh. Pero if you go to Manila area, meron kaming malakas, pero hindi lahat ng item.

“Each supermarket kina-categorize namin yan. We classify them as hypermarket style, supermarket style or community store style. Then we base it on the population and the area.

“Surprisingly, 2012 became a record year for us. At that time, we also started expanding into food service, hotels, restaurants and catering. Nagse-serve kami. Nag-wholesale na kami.”

“We are trade partners with top restaurant groups,” Morris adds. “We supply fish, salmon and other seafood. We also supply to caterers and hotels,  mga ganyan.

“Seafood is what I call a ‘necessary evil’ for restaurants here. Kasi number one sa Philippines is chicken, then pork, then beef, fourth ang seafood. But if you go to a restaurant, kailangan may seafood.

“Ang beef madali lang eh. It's one cow, different parts lang. Ang isda, nandiyan ang salmon. Pag gusto mo ng alimango? Gusto mo ng squid? Gusto mo ng shrimp? Iba-iba eh. Pag shrimp, gusto mo head-on, headless, peeled meat, tail-on, tempura. May scallop pa tayo. So parang sobrang dami.

“Kami ang one-stop shop when it comes to that. If you open a restaurant and you need anything na seafood, automatic meron kami lahat.”

“Another advantage is our distribution network,” Marco says. “Since we have more than 200 outlets sa mga supermarket, we already have regular deliveries to different areas.

“For example, Megamall. Syempre we do twice-a-week delivery. Let's say may isang restaurant doon and kailangan niya ng 10 kilos lang na isda. Other suppliers might not serve that because 10 kilos lang, talo na sa delivery, diba? But we can. Kasi when we deliver to the supermarket sa Megamall, akyat ko lang yung restaurant sa taas.

“That became one of our advantages. Basta you follow our delivery schedule, we can serve you kahit na maliit yung mga orders nyo. For example, meron kaming route in Manila, which is Binondo. Parang every Monday and Wednesday yata. So we serve the customers there according to that schedule.

“Another reason we were able to enter institutional and food service was because we could provide the specific cuts they needed. Kasi ever since may retail na kami, we were already doing our own slicing. Meron talaga kaming factory.

“Some importers can sell you the whole box, but they cannot necessarily give you, for example, 300 grams per pack, naka-vacuum. Kami, we can do that eh. If a restaurant group wants 100 to 120 grams or 200 to 220 grams per pack, we can do that. Pwede kang mag-tailor fit. Because we were already doing retail and small packaging, it was very easy for us to adapt and cater to the needs of restaurants.

“When we started, pioneering yung frozen seafood, so it made sense for people to go specifically to a Cold Storage store. But today, for example, if I want salmon, I'm not going to a specialty store just to buy salmon. I can buy it when I go to the grocery.

“So if we're going to open a standalone store, we have to ask how far it is from another supermarket carrying our products. Ang maganda lang naman sa standalone store namin is we get to carry the full range. We get to showcase talaga lahat ng produkto namin.

“Our logic has always been, if you can't do it properly, we're not going to do it.”

Customers remember when a business delivers what they expect every time. This reliability builds trust and gives them a reason to stay even when cheaper alternatives are available.

Achieving that consistency requires more than having a good product. Businesses need reliable suppliers and the processes and infrastructure to maintain them. When these are built into the operation, quality becomes harder for competitors to replicate.

For entrepreneurs, the goal is therefore not simply to offer a good product. It is to build a business capable of delivering the same standard consistently as it grows.

Cold Storage's approach to quality began with what the family learned from its Japanese customers and suppliers. Their strict standards taught the Quas not to cut corners, a discipline the brothers later applied to suppliers from other countries.

The brothers preferred established suppliers and visited processing facilities themselves rather than simply buying from whoever offered the lowest price. Cold Storage also invested in processing facilities, warehouses and distribution to maintain quality throughout the cold chain.

These capabilities extended to local seafood. The company could buy fish when catches were abundant, process and freeze them, then hold inventory when supply became scarce. This gave institutional customers more consistent supply and greater price stability.

Competitors may be able to import the same seafood, but consistently delivering it at the right quality is harder to replicate. Cold Storage has built relationships with trusted suppliers and invested in processing, cold storage and distribution to protect the product throughout the supply chain. These capabilities take years to develop and allow the company to maintain consistent quality that competitors may find difficult to replicate.

“When we were coming up with the name, sabi ng Dad ko, very typical na Chinese,” Marco says. “Sabi niya, ‘Oh, diba fresh naman tayo? Ang pangit naman kung Fresh Market or what?’ Since gumagamit tayo ng cold storage na warehouse eh and tayo lang meron nyan, let’s just call it Cold Storage. When we did the logo, we were also very (strategic) with the blue color. Kasi tubig eh, so very seafood siya.

“Before, we worked extensively with Japanese suppliers because Japan was the main market for our exports,” Marco says. “One thing I noticed, and what my dad taught us, is makikita mo yung discipline when it comes to suppliers.

“Pagdating sa Japanese, ang arte nila, which is a good thing. It's a good thing. They don't cut corners pagdating sa quality, mga ganyan.So even when we deal with suppliers from China, Vietnam, the US or Europe, we're very meticulous when it comes to quality.

“Kasi parang there's no point bringing in yung mga basura na ganyan. At the end of the day, babalik lang din naman sayo yan eh, diba? We make sure na yung trade partners namin sa import established na talaga. As much as possible, don't go to traders. We want to get the best price and the quality talaga.

“We visit the suppliers and their processing facilities. We go to Vietnam maybe twice a year. We go to China, Japan, mga ganyan. The foreign embassies here also help introduce suppliers to us. Usually we have contacts with the Chilean Embassy, Norway, Canada, mga ganyan. Normally, it's business matching.

“For example, for salmon, you have Norway or Chile. Vietnam, we do a lot of fish fillets and sometimes shrimp. We do black cod from Alaska and halibut from Canada.

“For me personally, yung sinasabi nila na fresh is better than frozen, I don't think that way. Kasi ganito ang frozen. Upon harvest, blast-freeze kaagad yan. So when you thaw it, it's as good as nung bagong huli.”

“Eh ang fresh, ito ang concept ko ha,” Morris says. “Kunyari lang hinuli natin sa Gensan yung tuna. Pinadala dito by airplane. Ilang oras? Versus freeze mo siya pagkahuli, pag-harvest, tapos pagdating dito dini-defrost mo. Lahat intact yan.

“Ang kailangan mo lang is proper thawing, yun lang. For me, mas preferred ko, mas maganda ang frozen. Everything we import is frozen. May cold chain na sila eh. Bawal maputol ang cold chain. Bawal. You have to make sure yung quality talaga because isda yan eh, diba?

“For me, yung idea that frozen is automatically inferior is a misconception na lang at this point eh. Lalo na ang dami ng technology right now that has improved the quality of frozen seafood.”

“In 2024, we launched a new product line focused on local seafood.” Marco says. “Di ba we had problem with local prices kasi for example, ngayon bibilhin mo 50, tapos naging 60, 100, 120, pataas nang pataas? We found a way to address some of that problem.

“During times when the catch is abundant, sobrang bagsak ang presyo. Kunyari sabihin natin Espada or what, ganyan. Kung nagmumura siya, we buy in bulk. What we do is we buy and process the fish. Frozen namin. May cold storage naman kami.

“So with our institutional customers, for example restaurants, I can say, ‘I can do six months to one year walang price increase. Walang galaw ng presyo.’ Ito yung presyo ko all year round. Unlike pag sa palengke ka, pag bumagyo lang bukas, taas ng singkwenta, 100 pesos kaagad ang isda. Sa amin, rain or shine, I don't care kasi nasa cold storage ko naman eh. Nasa bodega ko na eh.

“That’s why our brand is Cold Storage. Sa factory namin, meron kaming actual cold storage warehouse. Our cold storage facilities are primarily for our own use. One of our advantages is we already have the existing distribution network. We worked really hard for that.

“Ang dami nating bodies of water. Pero pag maganda ang huli, minsan kawawa rin yung fishermen. Kulang na lang ipamigay nila yung isda sa sobrang dami. I saw it when I went to Misamis. May nakausap ako mga fishermen. Sabi niya, meron siyang banyera that can go as high as P3,000 per banyera. Pero minsan puede daw bumaba to P300, wala pa daw bumibili. Idinonate na lang daw nila sa simbahan. Kasi pag lumabas ka, gasolina, manpower. Yung P300 daw, kesa naman itatapon at masira na rin daw, idonate na lang.

“So there's a supply and demand problem. If you can fix that through cold storage warehouses, at least kung walang isda at kung wala kayong huli, meron pa rin tayong supply. Kasi mindset ng mga iba, when you do storage, you do importation.

“It's not just importation. You help the local industry na to preserve yung product, to help them prolong the product for the rainy season.”

A family business can survive its founder only if the next generation is prepared to lead it. Passing on ownership is relatively easy, but passing on the knowledge, judgment and discipline required to run the business takes years.

Preparation should therefore begin long before succession takes place. Giving the next generation exposure to customers, operations and financial decisions allows them to understand how the business actually works. It also gives them time to develop their own judgment rather than depend entirely on the founder.

The goal is not simply to prepare the next generation to inherit the business. It is to prepare them to make good decisions when the founder is no longer there to make those decisions for them.

Mariano Qua's approach was to develop business judgment gradually rather than prepare his sons for specific positions. By exposing them early to customers, operations, financial statements and other businesses, he gave them different ways to understand how a company succeeds or fails.

More importantly, many of these lessons became habits. They learned to look for opportunities when they traveled, examine businesses critically and rely on numbers when making decisions. His own work ethic also established the standard expected of someone who would eventually lead the company.

“To be honest, one of the things we learned, especially when we travel, is to keep your eyes open talaga for opportunities,” Marco says. “Kaya parang hindi ko nga alam eh. Pag nagtra-travel kami, we naturally gravitate towards supermarkets.

“When we went to Sydney, may naka-allocate talagang isang araw na kailangan naming mag-Sydney Fish Market. When you go to Japan, automatic kailangan pupunta ka rin sa market. Kumbaga parang naging automatic na yan. That's probably one of the first things we learned from my dad. You always keep your eyes open and see what's out there.

“The second is talking about business on a daily basis. One thing I noticed is when we talk to some of our friends, parang nagugulat sila. When they talk about business, parang it's a very tedious activity.

“Sa amin kasi, every dinner, every lunch, we talk about business. It's not just about our business. We talk about other people's businesses, mga negosyo. That's our standard na family conversation to the point na even when we were in grade school, we were already exposed to it.

“Nung nag-open ang Cold Storage Banaue, nandun na kami. Nagkakahera kami. Before naging kahera, tumutulong sa pagbitbit ng basket pag may mga customer. So we learned to talk to customers as early as then.

“But the learning wasn't just about yung mga maliliit na bagay. My dad would talk to us about other businesses. He would say, ‘Do you know about this business before? Itong business na 'to dati ang laking negosyo. Tignan mo, ganito nangyari.’”

“My dad would talk about the intangibles,” Morris adds. “Kasi minsan you can have the perfect management, the perfect resources. Eh tamad ka. Eh ganito ginawa mo eh. Eh ayaw mo magising ng maaga eh. Ganyan-ganyan. These are intangible.

“Ang dali mag-relax na, ‘Okay na ako, relax na ako,’ ganyan. It's easy to spiral downwards when it comes to mga ganyang bagay. My dad had this habit palagi, even with my mom. My mom had a lot of experiences din sa family business nila. They would talk about other businesses. ‘Oh, dati supplier na 'to, malaki sila, pero yung anak kasi ganyan.’”

“So parang, okay, yun yung mga dapat hindi natin ginagawa,” Marco adds. “Bawal tayong maging ganyan. Naging normal yan as we grew up. When we talk to people or look at businesses, parang nakikita mo, ‘Grabe, sayang, no? Ang dami nilang resources.’ They were given this much resources, nasasayang kasi nakikita namin.”

“My dad never forced us anything,’ Morris says. “Yun ang maganda. It was more of, ‘Do whatever you wanna do.’ Pero he gave us a very strong foundation in pagnenegosyo, yung business sense. My dad also gave a lot of importance to math. Ever since, we were always joining competitions. Pinilit kami ng dad ko. But eventually naging interest namin yan.

“When we see numbers, yung mga ganyan, nakangiti kami. Typical Chinese ba. Parang importante ang math. Basta math maganda grade mo, "Oh sige, okay na yan. Bumagsak ka sa iba, bahala ka." Hindi naman literally, but basta alam niya mataas ang math namin, masaya siya palagi, ganyan.

“The good thing is numbers became very natural to us. We don't have to force ourselves na, “Bibilang tayo ng ganyan-ganyan.’ We look forward to it. For example, kami both ang hilig namin is gusto namin mag-aral ng financial statements.

“Give me an FS ng isang company. Parang ang sarap mag-aral. Ang sarap tignan. It's like telling a story eh. That's also something we brought into the business. Minsan mga FS, sabihin ko, ‘Hindi, gawin natin. Ayusin natin FS natin para may metrics tayo.’

“Ever since, entrepreneurship and business were really what interested us. For me, one of the biggest things I learned from my dad was his work ethic. He's not saying it, but workaholic siya eh. Alam mo yung may kasabihan, ‘Leaders eat last?’ Literally, dad ko ganon eh.

“When he worked, hindi talaga siya kumakain. Especially sa planta. Some of our workers are already old or retired now. Pag kausap ko sila, they would tell me, ‘Alam mo ba papa mo dati, alas-tres na, alas-kwatro, lahat kami nagtatrabaho.’

“I think that's one reason those workers had so much respect for my dad. Kasi dad ko, pag trabaho, trabaho. He didn't care about rank. Kaya niyang sumabay sa lahat ng workers. And I think that's also why he was able to keep people with him.”

Henry Ong, RFP, is an entrepreneur, financial planning advocate and business advisor. Email Henry for business advice [email protected] or follow him on Twitter @henryong888