Tags: Entrepreneurship, Wholesale and Retail
By KC Santos
TAGAYTAY CITY, CAVITE – Mahogany Market is famous for its fresh Batangas beef. More than just a landmark, it also serves as second home to generations of families – most of them hailing from Batangas – that operate meat stalls.
Amelito Condicion, a stall owner, shares that Mahogany was put up in the 1960s in a different location. It was transferred to its current location to make it more accessible to tourists.
Amelito says that butchers and stall owners at Mahogany consider the market as a valuable inheritance that all of them try hard to preserve and continue.
“Halos lahat ng stalls dito, minana ng ng mga may-ari sa kanilang mga ninuno. Hindi lang basta negosyo ang turing namin dito (Almost all of the stalls here are inherited by owners from their ancestors. We don’t consider this market as merely place of business),” says Amelito, whose livelihood enabled him to send all his children to universities in Manila.
The market’s current location favors stall owners like him since Tagaytay is nearer to Manila than Batangas. Restaurants and food establishments in Manila source their supply of beef from Mahogany.
Being nearer to Manila also means the meat can be remains fresh when delivered.
The cattle, auctioned in Batangas to resellers like Amelito, is delivered to a slaughterhouse located near the market. He can take one look at a cow and know instantly around how much he would earn from it.
Mahogany Market has thrived for decades because of the quality of the produce sold by vendors like Amelito.
“Iba talaga ang baka ng Batangas kasi tumatatak yung lasa kaya talagang dinadayo (Batangas beef has a distinct taste and this is what people keep coming back for),” he says.
Proof of this is, of course, is in the eating, which is why Tagaytay is almost synonymous with beef bulalo, a specialty served in most local restaurants.
People also keep coming back to Mahogany because you can buy beef relatively cheaper than in most supermarkets in Manila. But Amelito laments the fact that they are competing with imported beef.
“Kapag mas pinipili ng consumer yung imported, nagiging matumal ang bentahan namin dito (Business turns bad when consumers buy imported beef),” he says.
Nonetheless, he remains optimistic people will keep coming back to Mahogany. Demand for beef starts to peak during December up until May.
“Hanggat meron pa din nakikipag-sisikan para lang makapag-uwi ng baka namin, kumpyansa kami na lalo pang magtatagal ang bilihan na ito (As long as we see people coming over eager to buy, we are all confident Mahogany will last ),” he says.
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