Pivoting in crisis? Potato Corner founder shares thoughts

MANILA -- "Pivoting" is a term that has been thrown around by entrepreneurs as they try to deal with the effects of the COVID-19 crisis.

But Jose Magsaysay Jr., founder and chairman emeritus of the food kiosk pioneer Potato Corner, pivoting is not always the solution for crumbling businesses.

"You pivot depending on your resources. Look into yourself before you pivot. Am I a player now in this crisis? If I'm not and I don't have the money to pivot, I will just conserve, stop what I'm doing, and spot trends," he said during a webinar organized by the Philippine Franchise Association on Thursday.

To those who do have the resources to pivot, Magsaysay reminded them to "stay at your core" as many entrepreneurs tend to blindly follow trends in consumer behavior.

"When you pivot, you have to make sure one foot is on the ground so that you stay in your DNA, you stay at your core. Don't get out of your core. It would be dangerous if you pivot and use both feet, which means you're out of your core already, and that be financially very dangerous," he explained.

"Once you've found the critical value that's causing a trend, whether downwards or upwards, then you've found a secret opportunity into what you need to do. Then you pivot," he said.

"If you haven't found it, you better not pivot because that means you don't know what you're doing, you're just guessing."

EMPLOYEES TO ENTREPRENEURS

Magsaysay revealed that almost all Potato Corner branches -- around 1,400 -- in the country were closed after the announcement of the coronavirus-induced quarantine.

He expressed relief that some of their overseas branches are still operational: "That's how important to diversify internationally is. We still have stores in Indonesia open, we still have stores in Thailand open. So amazing."

While Potato Corner has reopened 140 stores in malls as of Thursday, Magsaysay still managed to pivot by converting some of their employees into entrepreneurs, on top of their existing franchisees.

Called "home special forces," they are able to sell Potato Corner products to customers despite the lockdown.

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"We have 380 home special forces and counting. Our employees who are not able to work are entrepreneurs already... We do whatever is needed to save the company," Magsaysay said.

"Anyone who wants to sell Potato Corner, we'll deputize you, you become our heroes," he added.