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SCREEN CAPTURE / SHARK TANK Jake Deleon was successful in winning over a Shark Tank investor. |
“I’ve been a fan of Shark Tank for more than a decade,” said Fila Manila founder Jake Deleon in an interview. “I remember watching during my time in corporate and being inspired by the entrepreneurs who bared their life and business on the carpet and learning from the shark’s questions.”
Fila Manila makes Filipino foods, which are hard to find in the most mainstream grocery stores.
"Where Filipino cuisine is today is where Korean and Japanese cuisine was 10 years ago," Deleon said during the March 4 episode of Shark Tank.
“I’ve always been in the food business. We come from an immigrant family and with most Filipino families, food is always the center of the household,” New Jersey resident Deleon told the Philadelphia Inquirer. “It’s no surprise that a lot of our entrepreneurial efforts as kids or even with my parents started out with food. We just made food in our kitchen and would sell to friends and family for extra income.”
“One of the cases I made [for Filipino food] on Shark Tank is that we’re actually the fastest growing cuisine in the U.S. right now in terms of popularity,” he said. “What’s working in our favor is that if you go to most groceries, there’s not really any Filipino representation at all.”
Deleon, a graduate from Drexel University, founded the company in November 2020, having previously created an almond milk brand that he discontinued due to setbacks from the COVID-19 pandemic. In just a few years, he has been able to grow Fila Manila into a million-dollar business.
Before becoming an independent businessman, Deleon learned the food industry business while working Procter & Gamble, developing products and managing brands for Starbucks, Pringles and the pet-food brand Iams.
“I’ve always been in the food business. We come from an immigrant family and with most Filipino families, food is always the center of the household,” New Jersey resident Deleon told the Philadelphia Inquirer. “It’s no surprise that a lot of our entrepreneurial efforts as kids or even with my parents started out with food. We just made food in our kitchen and would sell to friends and family for extra income.”
“One of the cases I made [for Filipino food] on Shark Tank is that we’re actually the fastest growing cuisine in the U.S. right now in terms of popularity,” he said. “What’s working in our favor is that if you go to most groceries, there’s not really any Filipino representation at all.”
Deleon, a graduate from Drexel University, founded the company in November 2020, having previously created an almond milk brand that he discontinued due to setbacks from the COVID-19 pandemic. In just a few years, he has been able to grow Fila Manila into a million-dollar business.
Before becoming an independent businessman, Deleon learned the food industry business while working Procter & Gamble, developing products and managing brands for Starbucks, Pringles and the pet-food brand Iams.
"I'm a 1st generation FilAm," Deleon writes on the company website. "who was born in the Philippines and raised in NJ with countless memories of joyful family gatherings. His family's recipes were the basis of Fila Manila's products.
"At the center of each gathering was a table overflowing with home-cooked Filipino dishes. I remember the delicious flavors of our food together with the laughter of my family bringing comfort and joy to my heart.
"I created Fila Manila to celebrate the joy of Filipino family, culture, and our delicious cuisine," he says.
Fila Manila's condiments include a banana-based ketchup, the increasingly popular ube and coconut spread, adobo marinade and sauce, creamy peanut sauce, and pineapple rum sauce. All of the spreads are gluten-free, dairy-free and vegan with no artificial colors or flavors. The products are sold by grocers in 25 states at stores including Whole Foods, Target, Stop & Shop and Mom's Organic Market.
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| FILA MANILA |
Deleon said he fully expected to have to negotiate with the sharks to get a deal done.
"You come into the show and then you expect that you have to negotiate. And then you're familiar with how the sharks negotiate as well, so you have to come in with that mentality because if you do make a deal, you're probably starting from way up here and they're going to want to bring you way down here. You have to think about the mentality of meeting somewhere in the middle."
"I'm super psyched I got a deal with Daniel. He was the Shark I was targeting, and I think Daniel's experience building Kind is going to bring Fila Manila where I want it to be," Deleon said during the Shark Tank episode.
EDITOR'S NOTE: For additional commentary, news and views from an AANHPI perspective, follow me at Threads.net/eduardodiok, @DioknoEd on Twitter or at the blog Views From the Edge.
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