By HENRY EMPEÑO | July 1, 2024

CASTILLEJOS, Zambales — Despite the lingering effects of the Covid-19 pandemic and the closure of the Hanjin shipbuilding facility in Zambales, business is picking up again for this cooking gas dealership, thanks to unmatched customer service that builds and continues to deliver brand loyalty to this enterprise.

Cherylle Raguini, who owns five of the 10 stores selling the Brent Gas and Superkalan Gaz brands in Zambales, says the secret formula is quality product, consistent availability, and the “tender loving care” her team lavishes on customers, big or small.

“We are the pioneer LPG store in terms of free delivery, aside from the fact that the franchise is packaged as a convenience store which is open 12/7. We only close shop on Christmas Day, New Year’s Day, Holy Thursday and Good Friday,” Raguini said.

“But more than these, we really go out of our way to grow loyal customers—we give them our own brand of TLC. We do safety check every delivery if the household allows us; conduct safety seminars in barangays to educate consumers on safety; and also do after-sales services like stove cleaning and safety test,” she added.

Raguini, who once worked as community organizer after the Mount Pinatubo eruption devasted Zambales and nearby provinces, had since leveraged her understanding of the needs of the community going forward.

In June 2013, she opened her first store in this town, the so-called bedroom community for thousands of workers in the Hanjin shipyard at the nearby Redondo Peninsula, a part of Subic, Zambales.

Despite the existence of established brands, Raguini chose to open up a Brent Gas franchise seeing that it can potentially hold a candle to big competitors.

“Brent Gas, formerly PR Gaz, was packaged like a convenience store for LPG and LPG-related merchandise—with a uniform look for stores and delivery vehicles, and smart-looking uniforms for personnel. And because it’s a franchise, there is an operating system already in place, and the investment package is also attractive for small entrepreneurs like us,” Raguini explained.

The following year, she added three more stores in the neighboring towns of San Narciso, San Marcelino, and then San Felipe. The fifth store, in Subic town, was opened eight years later, in 2022.

The main market, of course, was the community of housewives, whom the Brent Gas team interacts with by conducting safety seminars and community cooking festivals.

“They make the most loyal customers,” Raguini pointed out. “They stay with our brand because of the quality of our products and services, and we’ve built a durable relationship with them through the years. We are, after all, with them in one of the most important aspects of their daily life: food and how it is prepared.”

“Our heyday was during the Hanjin years, when most of our stores were selling an average 35 to 45 tanks per day,” Raguini recalled. “There was a significant decrease in sales after Hanjin pulled out of the Subic Freeport, and then the pandemic came. That further reduced our sales as household, the bulk of our market, lost income and had to make do with using firewood or charcoal for fuel.”

Another pandemic scourge was the surge in colorum LPG brands. “These were also eating at our bottom line,” Raguini revealed.

At that time of the pandemic, sales went down to a low of 15 tanks per day, she recalled.

With the revival of the local economy post-Covid, Brent Gas is regaining market strength, selling an average of from 25 to 40 tanks per store per day. “We’re not yet back to the Hanjin heydays, but we’re getting closer,” Raguini enthused.

Right now, Raguini’s five Brent Gas stores are staying with their niche market, the households, which consume the 11-kilogram tank bestsellers, while eyeing potential market among food businesses and big farms that may favor the bigger 50-kilogram cylinders.

One other product that shows a lot of promise, Raguini said, is the 2.7-kilogram tank that is mostly used as a reserve. She said more and more of these units are being bought by campers, transient workers and students, and “viajeros”—drivers and delivery personnel who cook their meals on the road. 

TOP PHOTO: Brent Gas team conducts a safety demonstration in a barangay plaza