UPSIZE PH | Golden Grains Celebrates 35 Years Of Providing Filipino Families With High Quality Rice

Rice is a staple in every Filipino meal and gathering. At Golden Grains, there is a rice variety for every preference.

Golden Grains supplies repacked rice in 2kg, 5kg,10kg, 25kg, and 50kg packs to different supermarkets. The brand’s past and present clients have included Cherry Foodarama, Pilipinas Makro, Rustans, Shopwise, Waltermart Supermarket, Sta Lucia East Supermarket, Hi-Top Supermarket, Isetann Supermarket, South Supermarket, Super SM, SM-SVI., Ultra Mega, Crossings, Ministop, Reysal Supermarket, Malayan Insurance, and Pancake House.

While the Golden Grains bestseller is Sinandomeng Special rice, the healthy segment consisting of red, brown, and black rice is growing fast. Overall, Golden Grains has 10 rice varieties available. Golden Grains rice varieties include Super Angelica (dry, hard long-grained perfect for fried rice), Maharlika (fluffy and maalsa), Healthy Alternative Brown Rice, Thai Jasmine, and Dinurado Aromatic.

Golden Grains was, in fact, one of the pioneers in the rice repacking industry, being one of the brands to offer a brown rice variant in retail sizes.

“We are always attuned to the needs and demands of the market,” said Jeffrey Go, whose family started the business 35 years ago.

Golden Grains traces its roots to 1987, when Mariano Go put up R.E.J. Rice Dealer, a store that sold rice by the kilo and other staples. Later on, this store became R.E.J. Commercial.

The store was like many establishments of its kind in the country—simple and run by families. Mariano and his wife Linda got a lot of help from their children Jeffrey, Marilyn, Robert, and Edward.

Jeffrey and his siblings Marilyn, Robert, and Edward had different roles in the business. Robert, then a university student, would make the rounds of wet markets to sell rice. Marilyn focused on raising her family. Jeffrey helped man the store while Edward did the deliveries.

“My parents started out small like many store owners but they grew the business slowly but surely. They made sure the rice they sold was of good quality and they made sure they were fair to the source of the rice, the farmers, and the customers,” said Jeffrey.

The business grew but it also encountered some problems. The Asian financial crisis of 1997 caused interest rates to skyrocket and with the Go family having had to acquire loans for the business, that meant they went deep into debt.

They also encountered logistical problems because transporting rice from point to point is not easy. Some of their neighbors would complain because of the noise.

It was Jeffrey, an Accountancy graduate and a Certified Public Accountant, who took over the business’ finances so the debts could be paid off. It was Robert who came up with the idea of launching Golden Grains, as he noticed a shift in consumer behavior.

Thus was born Golden Grains, a provider of high quality rice in 2kg, 5kg,10kg, 25kg, and 50kg packs. The brand was launched address a need in the market for smaller packs of rice.

Aside from a knack for business, the Go siblings also inherited a love for high quality rice from their parents, who’d always remind them that it was the essence of every meal.

How has Golden Grains ensured the high quality of the rice it sells? By working with farmers’ cooperatives.

The business has become successful and now helps provide livelihood to thousands of Filipino farmers as 95 percent of their rice supply is sourced from farmers’ cooperatives. Even if imported rice is cheaper, Golden Grains continues to help local farmers sustain and grow their livelihood by buying their harvests at market price.

“We buy the rice from them at market prices and we place a small (5-10 percent) mark up to keep prices affordable for the consumers,” said Go.

The family also acquired another warehouse in Nueva Ecija to be closer to their partner cooperatives and help facilitate their transactions with the farmers. During the pandemic, Golden Grains offered paid leaves, free shuttle services, and bicycle allowances to their staff in order to address their employees’ economic, health, and mobility concerns.

“As a company, we also continue to listen to what our customers want and innovate accordingly. For instance, during the pandemic, we started selling on e-commerce platforms like Lazada and Shopee because that’s what our customers asked for. We are now looking at making Golden Grains available for same day delivery from Grab and Foodpanda because some people have been asking for that, too,” said Jeffrey.

With brothers Robert and Jeffrey now at the helm of the family business, they plan to beef up the brand’s online presence, further professionalizing the company by hiring professional managers to head operations, human resources, production, and sales. Golden Grains will also finally make their Nueva Ecija warehouse fully operational.

It is the Go family’s hope that, in these trying times, every Filipino family should at least be able to eat a good quality rice while sharing a meal together.

Get your own bag of Golden Grains rice by visiting the Golden Grains Lazada Store (https://bit.ly/3Ve4ILg) or Shopee Store (https://bit.ly/3CfYrWS) and take advantage of their exclusive 35th anniversary promo of 35 percent off on the two platforms only.