9 Dimensions of Quality

THE ArceDairy ice cream line consists of their premium or supreme, classic, regular, sugar-free, sherbet, and “sorbete de caro” flavors. The latter, made from fresh coconut milk, is reminiscent of the “dirty” ice cream sold in pushcarts by itinerant vendors. The company also makes “lower-end” popsicles they sell in the provinces under the Medinilla label as well as ice-cream bars featuring various flavors.

Dennis S. Arce, vice president for finance of ArceFoods Corp., the company that produces ice-cream products under the ArceDairy label, said Ramon Arce Sr.’s company was the second company ever registered in the Philippine Securities and Exchange Commission, getting registration number two in 1935. It was preceded by Magnolia which received SEC registration number one in 1925.

Being a closely held company, the demise of family members caused the Arce family business to undergo corporate changes. It was known as Arce and Sons Co. until 1959; Arce Sons & Co. until 1977; Arcecon Dairy Products Inc. up to 1990. The biggest overhaul came about in 1990 when other third-generation Arces outvoted the family of Mauro C. Arce Sr. The original brand name Selecta Dairy Products was sold to RFM Corp. under Joey Concepcion who said it was “better to buy a name than to build one.”

Although the family of Mauro C. Arce Sr. “lock, stock and barrel” retained the icecream business and the dairy plant, it was prohibited from ever using the Selecta brand for its ice cream line and it could not produce ice cream for five years. The company, however, retained the name in its Selecta Feeds products which it uses to this day.

In 1995 at the end of the five-year ban, the children of Mauro C. Arce Sr. incorporated Arce Foods Corp. and it began producing ice cream under the ArceDairy label. Its current president is Faustito Arce, oldest son of Mauro Sr.

Today, aside from the Bulacan farmers who supply the company’s requirements for fresh carabao’s milk, ArceDairy has 500 heads of Indian Mura carabaos in its Rodriguez, Rizal farm, with each pregnant female producing 16 liters of milk a day.

In 2011 the company scored a coup when it won a contract to supply the Philippine Airlines’s first-class passengers with ArceDairy ice cream in cups. Better yet, starting April 15, 2012, PAL’s Fiesta-class passengers get to enjoy ArceDairy ice cream in cups with their meals.

Dennis Arce said today’s third-generation Arces realize the need to modernize their plant and to use compact, energy-efficient machinery that will produce the same output in one-fourth the space the plant currently uses and with less electric consumption.

“We aim to do this modernization plan gradually. We realize that the money we save in our electric bill alone is money we can use for other projects,” he said.

Arce Foods Corp. has earned many awards for producing the country’s best ice cream. These awards include the first Hall of Fame award of the Consumers Union of the Philippines (CUP) for the company’s strict adherence to the manufacture of high-quality, all-natural ice cream and for being named by the CUP as top quality ice cream manufacturer for at least five consecutive years; various citations by the Parangal ng Bayan Awards Foundation; the Golden Globe Annual Awards for Business Excellence in 2007 for being the “Best Sugar Free Ice Cream Manufacturer” and the Gawad Parangal Award for being “The Country’s Premier Quality Ice Cream Maker in 2011.”

The third-generation Arce family has added to the dictum of the company’s founder and lives by it: “Machines do not make miracles. What you put in machines is what comes out. Quality is not just a virtue, but a legacy.”