Universal Robina

Universal Robina Corporation

Logo used since 2016
Type	Public
Traded as	: URC
Industry	Manufacturing
Founded	1954; 63 years ago (1954)
Founder	John Gokongwei
Headquarters	Ortigas Center, Pasig, Philippines
Area served	Philippines
Key people	Lance Gokongwei (President and CEO)
Products	Confectionery, snack foods, grocery and convenience foods, beverages
Parent	JG Summit Holdings
Subsidiaries	Griffin's Foods (New Zealand)
Website	www.urc.com.ph

Universal Robina Corporation (URC) is a Philippine company based in Pasig, Philippines. It is one of the largest food and beverage companies in the Philippines.

Universal Robina Corporation (URC) traced its beginnings all the way back to 1954. John Gokongwei, Jr. was doing very well then as a trader/importer. He had learned the trade when his father died before the war, and had worked hard through the war and postwar years to prosper. However, while he thrived, he took a long hard look at his company, and correctly predicted that trading would remain a low-margin business.

On the other hand, a successful manufacturer controlling its own production and distribution would command more profitable margins. Mr. Gokongwei decided to construct a corn milling plant to produce glucose and cornstarch, Universal Corn Products (UCP), the first building block of the company that would become URC.

For a time, business was good. However, Mr. Gokongwei was still looking ahead, working with an eye towards the future. While the business was doing very well, it was producing essentially a commodity, which a customer could easily access elsewhere. To stay ahead in the game, the future billionaire had to diversify by producing and marketing his own branded consumer foods, similar to the multinational companies in the Philippines like Nestle and Procter & Gamble. In a sense, he wanted to put up the first ‘local’ MNC, borne out of their best practices.

Thus, in 1961, Consolidated Food Corporation was born. Their first ‘home run’ product was Blend 45, the first locally manufactured coffee blend, dubbed as the “Pinoy coffee”. This became the largest-selling coffee brand in the market, even beating market leaders Café Puro and Nescafe. After coffee came chocolates. Nips, a panned chocolate similar to M&Ms, was a staple of Filipino childhood.

In 1963, Robina Farms started operations, beginning with poultry products. This was also the beginning of the vertical integration of the Gokongwei businesses, as the farms would be able to purchase feeds from UCP in the future. Later that decade, Robichem Laboratories would be put up, to cater to the veterinary needs of the farms businesses. Robina Farms expanded as it entered the hogs business in the latter part of the 70s.

1966 saw the establishment of Universal Robina Corporation, which pioneered the savory snacks industry in the Philippines through its Chiz Curls, Chippy, and Potato Chips, under the “Jack ‘n Jill” brand. Other snack products would follow over the years, as the company successfully introduced market leaders like Jack 'n Jill Pretzels (pretzels), Piattos (fabricated potato chips), and Maxx (hard candy).