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In their social networks they describe themselves as a brand of snack food restaurants, whose specialty is handmade hamburgers and fruit and ice-cream shakes, but they have also participated in environmental cleanups on beaches and coasts, provided support to the victims of the Havana tornado and assistance to vulnerable people during the hardest days of the COVID-19 lockdown. However, the story of Juanky’s Pan holds a secret, a friendship that transcends the business and in turn makes it grow.
Reinaldo Cabrera and Juan Carlos Blaín get on so well that they have come to consider themselves brothers, because since high school their paths have not separated and the anecdotes they share bear the mark of a unique fraternity, complicity and support; signs that they transmit to all their workers and to the world of entrepreneurship in general. Since the beginnings of Juanky’s Pan they have done everything together, as a project in which they had deposited many dreams; but…
What is left of those two young guys who decided so long ago to launch this business?
“Rei has always been the one who has been measured as regards every detail, so many things have been discovered that were going to be a total failure and he has saved them with his attitude. For my part, I have taken care not to be as measured, because sometimes opportunities are lost because of that, and together we strike a balance. Rei is very logical, he calculates everything; he is the most intelligent person I know,” Juan Carlos responds about his partner, who adds that “there is another type of intelligence that has saved this business in many ways, that I don’t possess, and Juan Carlos does, which is emotional intelligence.” According to Reinaldo, “he carries the emotional briefcase and I carry the cognitive one. In many scenarios he is the one who makes me see things that I did not imagine, and then I have to analyze if they are really possible, and in the end our achievements are based on that joint vision.”
How have you confronted the challenge of including a new space, to bring your total to four establishments of the brand?
“We have formed a team where each has his own responsibilities,” explains Juan Carlos, who founded Juanky’s Pan eight years ago. “As general manager, I play a part in the organization, but my focus is on logistics and encouraging producers in the field, my fundamental mission at this time. Rey occupies himself with the technological management and now, in addition to managing Processes, is taking on the whole issue of alliances with the state sector, exports, imports, FCC and contracts with Fincimex, a very important task because there lies the future.” Furthermore, the team has a Marketing and Communications department, vital to guaranteeing the information flow to the public, as well as internally in each establishment.
“We incorporated a new department, the economic department, in charge of accounting and economic analysis, vital in these times due to price fluctuations, their calculations, and direct and indirect costs, necessary for the opening of a new establishment. Then comes the administration of the space, where we now have Greter Dapresa, who was a sales director, combined with well-defined training, in catering and services; and by bringing together all these strengths, it was possible to open a new location. Difficult, very difficult, but thanks to this structure we made it work,” Juan Carlos comments.
The management of these four establishments is conducted through the right of use of the trademark Juanky’s Pan, which is registered with the Cuban Industrial Property Office, and granted to the owners of the facilities where the brand’s iconic gastronomic services are provided. As such, today there are four entrepreneurs with a license to use the brand in the well-known Havana municipalities of La Lisa, Marianao and Playa.
How do you rate, and what has been the significance of implementing your own delivery service, and the use made of technology in your establishment?
“We have the customers’ loyalty cards, with a code that is scanned and incorporates 5% of the bill as a credit. When the time comes, they can consume what they want with money accumulated through their visits, which is not only functional but also an excellent marketing tool. Now, with the advent of the Internet and the obsolete nature of some initiatives, such as the internal social network that we had created at the beginning, we have to adapt and seek interconnection between the four sites, incorporate QR codes to the menus, launch our website and our own e-commerce system,” Reinaldo Cabrera notes.
On the other hand, although the first two establishments have a delivery service, Juanky’s Pan headquarters, in Marianao, is purely delivery-based and at a technological level is supported by a platform where each worker logs his/her task until reaching the packer and dispatching the order. “This information system allows you to have real control over the timings and identify where there are more delays, which lets us know where we should invest to improve the service and achieve maximum customer satisfaction,” explains Reinaldo, who emphasizes that “one of the successes of Juanky’s Pan has always been customer service, communication with them. A single complaint is very important to us, more than any praise, because based on any complaint we have to work to receive more recommendations, and that is our philosophy.”
Juan Carlos Blaín explains that “from the beginning, Juanky’s Pan has not only listened to its customers, but also to its workers. We realized the importance of training them, talking to them, teaching them, and that has given us a lot of strength as a structure. One of our fundamental pillars is that there is not a large staff turnover; I would dare to say that between 85 and 90% of our workers stay with us for a long time, because we take care of them.”
You are strongly identified with social responsibility. How important is it for entrepreneurs, and in your particular case, to assume this responsibility?
“We have always wanted to contribute to the community where we are based; that was my vision and it became our vision. This has an identified budget within our system so that it can be long-lasting and functional. We have been asked many times whether social responsibility generates sales, and I would say yes; it implies a cost, but it generates benefits, because people appreciate it and that causes a subsequent interaction. In the same way that if an entrepreneur or a self-employed person has a need we help them, they help us, and so we have achieved positive partnerships,” Juan Carlos notes.
Reinaldo adds that Corporate Social Responsibility is also incorporated into their administration: “producing our own ingredients; having bathrooms that save water and with lights that turn off automatically when you leave, is a way to save resources; building customer loyalty; improving access to our sites for disabled people, are already permanent measures.” Likewise, the business should be recognized for not closing during the COVID pandemic, and making an effort to take care of its employees, restructuring the work shifts and reducing the menu so as not to lay anyone off in such a complicated stage.
What are you advancing towards in terms of projects?
“We are working with rural residents to rescue raw materials that are sometimes wasted in the countryside, guiding them and encouraging them to produce in order to guarantee the supplies for many of our offers, because we cannot completely fulfill our needs through purchases in FCC because our sales are not in FCC,” Juan Carlos explains. At the same time, “we are organizing ourselves and, for example, we are planning to secure a POS in freely convertible currency with Fincimex, which will be a source of local income in that modality,” Reinaldo adds.
Beyond progress and plans, the family they have built both in their private lives and within Juanky’s Pan provides the necessary sustenance to keep this dream of hamburgers and milkshakes alive. Being proud of their work teams and of how far they have come only sets the bar higher; because for this duo, beyond their joint vision, the passing of any test, or their salary, what it all comes down to is intangible: loyalty, mutual understanding and constant support, no matter what happens.