"This is a very exciting time for all of us at Mega. The United States has been one of our key priorities, and this opportunity has been in development for nine months including investment and participation in major US food shows to assess the Amercan consumer. To now see Mega Sardines reaching shelves across America is an important milestone for our company and for a Filipino brand with global ambitions." ~Michelle Chan, CEO
For many years, consumer brands have mostly flowed in one direction between the Philippines and the United States. American brands—from Shakey's and Kenny Rogers to Coca-Cola and Spam—became ingrained in Filipino culture.
That narrative is starting to shift today. Filipino businesses are increasingly demonstrating that Philippine-born brands are capable of competing, expanding, and succeeding on the international scene. Jollibee paved the way for that. Mega Sardines' recent nationwide expansion into the US represents yet another significant advancement for Filipino consumer brands.
Mega Sardines is being introduced in roughly 2,750 locations under Kroger and its affiliated brands, including Mariano's, Fry's, Dillons, and Pick 'n Save. Products are beginning to appear on shelves across the country and should be accessible nationwide by the middle of September.
For Mega Prime Foods, the milestone represents much more than just a new export market.
In partnership with TTA (The Turnaround Artists), an international sales partner, Mega has been rapidly expanding its global footprint.
Beyond the United States, the company has recently entered Azerbaijan, Kenya and Jordan, with at least 10 additional
countries in its development pipeline.
From a Filipino Brand to a Global Brand
The Kroger partnership began much more modestly, with only a small portion of the Kroger network included in the test. After all, even a piece of Kroger is huge, being a $180 Billion Dollar listed company, and number 2 grocery status in the United States.
As negotiations proceeded, the opportunity expanded from a small test to a broader rollout across Kroger's various retail banners and ultimately to nationwide distribution. As of right now, Mega is the only Filipino brand that Kroger will carry.
For Marvin Tiu Lim, who leads Growth & Business Development for Mega Prime Foods, the U.S. expansion is not the finish line. It is a platform for Mega's next phase of growth.
"My role now is to help build the next growth engines for Mega. That means accelerating our international expansion, opening new markets and channels, developing strategic partnerships, and pursuing acquisitions and joint ventures that can give us new capabilities, brands, production capacity and access to consumers around the world. We want to build Mega into a truly global Filipino food company. The opportunity is not only to sell Mega Sardines in more countries, but to build an international platform-one that can take Filipino brands abroad, acquire and develop brands in other markets, access new fishing grounds and supply sources, and create businesses that can compete at global scale." ~Marvin Tiu Lim, Leads Growth & Business Development for Mega Prime Foods
The ambition is to move beyond simply exporting products from the Philippines.
The United States is particularly important for that strategy. Thanks to its success with a major retailer like Kroger, Mega has a platform to introduce the brand to both Filipino-Americans and the much larger mainstream American consumer market.
Globally, sardines are gaining popularity as a quick, high-nutrient source of Omega-3 fatty acids and protein. Because of its positioning around quality, health, heritage, and value, Mega has the opportunity to take sardines outside of the typical ethnic food aisle and introduce the category to a new generation of customers.
Filipino Pride on the World Stage
For the Tiu Lim family, Mega's international expansion carries a deeper meaning.
The company's founder and chairman, William Tiu Lim, started it as a small fishing business more than 50 years ago with the intention of providing Filipino families with affordable, healthful food.
Mega is currently working toward a goal that was previously unthinkable: becoming the top player in the world type of sardines.
The family is also likened to Alex Eala, another young Filipino who is gaining international recognition.
Mega wants to show that Filipino businesses and brands can do the same in international business, just as Eala does when she walks onto the biggest tennis stages in the world while carrying the Philippine flag and proving that Filipino athletes can compete against the best.
"What Alex Eala represents is bigger than tennis. Every time she competes internationally, Filipinos feel that sense of pride because we see one of our own proving that we belong on the world stage. That is the same spirit we want Mega to represent. We want Filipinos to walk into a supermarket in America, Europe, the Middle East or anywhere else in the world, see Mega on the shelf and say, 'That brand came from the Philippines-and it is one of the best in the world. Alex Eala is showing the world what Filipino talent can accomplish through belief, discipline, focus and humility. We want Mega to carry that same Filipino spirit into global business. Our dream is not simply to become a successful Philippine sardine brand. Our dream is for a Filipino brand to become the number-one sardine brand in the world." ~Marvin Tiu Lim
It is a vision shared across generations of the Mega family.
"When my wife and I founded Mega 51 years ago, we were a humble fishing company focused on serving the Philippine nation with affordable yet healthy food. We could never have imagined entering the massive U.S. market with a customer such as Kroger and adding new countries around the world." ~William Tiu Lim, Chairman
But according to Mega, Filipino pride goes beyond being overseas. Global success is the aim.
From fishing boats in the Philippines to supermarket shelves across America, Mega's journey is becoming a story about something much bigger than sardines.
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It seeks to show what Filipino companies can accomplish when they have the courage to think globally and offer Filipinos have yet another reason to be proud when the Philippine flag competes and wins on the global stage.
