Teamwork is secret of couple’s business success

It was just a hobby to pass the time away for Roselyn “Lynlyn” Liston after she resigned from her nine-year job in a facial care clinic in Cebu City to become a full-time housewife.

Liston, however, never dreamed that her hobby of making chorizo, longaniza and tocino would grow into a family-owned business, whose income was enough to sustain the family’s needs.

She quit her job in 1999 and was encouraged by a friend to start a small business.

Liston, whose husband Roger was a seaman, eventually ventured into the homemade products business when her husband encouraged her to invest their money before he returns to stay for good in Cebu.

In 2006, JITA Marketing was created.

She started with a P30,000 investment and never looked back.

She said that she and her husband chose to name their business JITA, which is the acronym for “Jesus is the Answer.”

“We wanted to keep in mind that everything we do is for His glory,” Liston said.

Even before we named the business, Liston was already accepting small orders for her homemade products from her acquaintances, friends and relatives.

“They would call us ahead of time to order packs of our products,” she said.

Liston said she preferred her clients to call ahead for their orders so that they could estimate how much they would need for each ingredient to come up with the number of orders.

In less than a year, Liston, who lives in sitio Tabok, barangay Pit-os, Cebu City, said they already started earning profit from the business.

After five years, Liston now have clients, who regularly order for her products.

She said JITA Marketing had become the official supplier of homemade chorizo, longaniza and tocino to some of the major retail store outlets in Cebu such as Foodarama, Eat-to-Eat Catering and Tita Gwapa.

“We feel blessed because we can say that after a long time, this business has already gained its access to those different dealers,” Roger Liston said.

Despite the growth in their business, the couple did not hire employees to save on overhead expenses and to maintain the competitive price of their products.

Roselyn said a chorizo (250g) is P50, longaniza (200g) is P45, and tocino (200g) is P50.

The couple continues to work hand in hand with Roselyn doing the cooking while Roger taking charge of the delivery of the products.

This is part of the couple’s formula for success.

Through time, the couple built a strong relationship with their dealers and customers through their affordable prices, which was mainly due to doing all the labor for their business.

Roselyn also recently added her homemade peanut butter to her products, whose prices range from P45 to P125 a jar.

She said the peanut butter is blended with honey and milk.

Roselyn also said that she and Roger are considering expanding their market in Bohol and Manila.