SMC rolls out more food trucks to beef up supply

MANILA, Philippines — San Miguel Corp. has expanded its Manukang Bayan on Wheels program to widen food availability and accessibility in several Metro Manila areas during the enhanced community quarantine period.

SMC president and chief operating officer Ramon Ang said the presence of food trucks in strategic and accessible locations around the country will make it easier for consumers to buy fresh chicken and other refrigerated meats minus the long queues in wet markets, groceries and supermarkets.

“We thought of expanding our Manukang Bayan on Wheels to somehow lessen the time people spend lining up at stores to buy chicken,”Ang said. “We understand that these are not normal times and people put themselves at risk when they go out to get necessary supplies, so wherever possible, we are bringing the supplies directly to them,” he said.

“Also, doing this will allay fears of food supply shortage. As I’ve said before, there is no reason to panic as we have enough food supplies to last way beyond the quarantine,” he added.

Initially, reefer vans selling poultry and other refrigerated meats are located in Katipunan, QC (Petron La Vista Katipunan corner Mangyan Road); Commonwealth (Petron Commonwealth Avenue corner Atherton St, Fairview, QC); Litex (Petron Litex Road, Violago Parkwood, Payatas); JP Rizal Marikina (Petron JP Rizal corner Spain St., Concepcion Uno); Santolan, Pasig (Petron Dona Aurora Village, Marcos Highway, Santolan, Pasig City); Boni Serrano (Petron Katipunan Avenue corner Boni Serrano, QC); and  C5 Diego Silang (Petron C5 Diego Silang, Ususan , Taguig City).

“We are looking to expand the coverage of these rolling stores in more locations in the coming days as long as there is a need. We will also make available more food products as we expand distribution channels to online retailers, for those who cannot go out of their homes to purchase food,” Ang said.

For most of last week, the company had mobilized 1,129 trucks to bring food directly to consumers in various barangays nationwide. It has served a total of 144 metric tons of meat products to date. This is on top of ongoing efforts to offer food to consumers straight from its facilities all over the country.

Ang earlier said that SMC food facilities will be in operation 24/7 to ensure stable food supplies in the country for at least six months. On a daily basis, SMC’s food facilities can produce 1.96 million kilograms of fresh meats (poultry, beef, and pork); 524,000 kilograms of processed meats (canned meat, nuggets, and hotdogs); and 2.11 million kilograms of flour/baked goods (flour, biscuits, pandesal, and nutribuns).

Stable supply of raw materials has also enabled the company to give food donations to local government units, government hospitals, non-government organizations, church groups and other government agencies in Metro Manila and neighboring provinces.