For Carmen’s Best founder Francisco ‘Paco’ D. Magsaysay, building one of the country’s recognized homegrown premium ice cream brands has given him lessons that extend far beyond entrepreneurship. In his new book, Beyond the Scoop: The Carmen’s Best Story, Paco looks back on the successes, setbacks, and unexpected turns that shaped not only the business he built, but also his views on family, resilience, purpose, and life.
The book traces Paco’s unlikely path into entrepreneurship, which began when his father, former Senator Ramon ‘Jun’ Magsaysay Jr., challenged him to find a productive use for surplus milk from the family’s dairy farm. With zero experience in the food business, Paco experimented with ice cream and eventually created Carmen’s Best, named after his only daughter, Carmen. Carrying her name became his personal commitment to never compromise on quality.
But Beyond the Scoop is more than the story of building an ice cream brand. Paco shares lessons from the challenges he encountered, detailing how perseverance, adaptability, integrity, and an unwavering commitment to quality helped him overcome the growing pains of building a business.
The idea for the book grew out of Paco’s many conversations with multi-awarded executive coach Anda del Rosario, who saw that the stories behind Carmen’s Best held lessons worth sharing with a wider audience. As Paco spoke about building the brand, he often shared memorable anecdotes and reflections on the beliefs, values, and wisdom that guided him through business. Convinced that these could become a compelling book, Anda encouraged an initially hesitant Paco to tell his story and offered to help him bring it to life. Veteran business editor Tina Arceo-Dumlao and award-winning fictionist Vida Cruz-Borja were sought on different stages of the making of the book, and eventually became its editors.
The grandson of former President Ramon Magsaysay, Paco studied Marketing with a minor in Philosophy at the University of St. Thomas in Houston, Texas. He later earned his Master’s in Entrepreneurship from the Asian Institute of Management. He also pursued specialized training in ice cream making at Pennsylvania State University, strengthening the technical knowledge behind the craft that would become his business.
Today, aside from his other business ventures, including a telecommunications company, Paco gives workshops at Entrepreneur Mindset, an exclusive leadership development workshop co-facilitated with coach Anda. He has also developed an online video course on Carmen’s Best story, where he shares the strategies and lessons he used to grow and scale the business. The course is available through www.pacomagsaysay.com.
By putting his experiences, beliefs, and hard-earned lessons into a book, Paco hopes to reach more aspiring entrepreneurs. For him, the story may have started with ice cream, but the lessons go far beyond the scoop.
Beyond the Scoop will be available starting in October in all Fully Booked outlets nationwide. Soon, the book will also be available for purchase on Amazon, Lazada, and Shopee.