A crossroads between continents and cultures, Panama is a country of diverse tastes and bold flavors. Its cuisine – a unique blend of Indigenous, Spanish, African and even Chinese influences – showcases this variety through dishes such as tortillas, tamales, seafood and stir fry.

Panamanian Priscila Detresno has always loved cooking these and other dishes for her friends and family. Encouraged by their compliments, she decided to make her passion her business, establishing the food company Q Cheff in 2019. “It started with the love of good food and the joy of sharing those unique moments around the table,” she recalls. “I thought, why not share these flavors with more people?”

The shift to e-commerce

Today, Q Cheff caters to time-poor customers by providing high-quality and distinctively flavored condiments – including a barbeque dressing and a distinctive ‘Q’beer steak sauce’ – all inspired by Panamanian cuisines and ingredients. Getting to this point over the past five years proved a steep learning curve, however. Recipes had to be perfected, processing equipment purchased and legal regulations for food producers met. Stringent health measures were also put in place to obtain the permits needed to sell products in supermarkets.

Adding to the difficulties, much of this was taking place during the COVID-19 pandemic, which presented the global food industry with unprecedented challenges. Like many other entrepreneurs, Priscila shifted her business online, relying on social media to maintain and build her customer base as shops shut their doors. She soon discovered that e-commerce brought its own challenges, requiring technical skills and an understanding of intellectual property (IP) in a digital context that many small-scale business owners lack.

Mentoring program for entrepreneurs

In response to the rapidly changing landscape for businesses, the Forum of Ministers in charge of IP matters from Central America and the Dominican Republic requested support from the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) to implement a project promoting the use of the IP system as a source of financing for entrepreneurs and micro, small and medium enterprises (MSMEs). As part of this project, WIPO designed a mentoring program on e-commerce and IP to help newly digitalized businesses understand the opportunities and challenges of e-commerce from the IP perspective, and to demonstrate how effective IP management can not only strengthen business strategies but serve as an important source of investment and financing. Across 13 separate workshops, the program had trained 154 people and 49 MSMEs from across Costa Rica, El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras, Panama and the Dominican Republic.

Hearing about WIPO’s program through her professional network and Ciudad del Saber, a Panamanian non-profit supporting businesses, Priscila signed up. “Before starting the course, I didn’t know about IP,” she remembers. “So it was an excellent opportunity to gain valuable tools and direct guidance from experts in the field.”

Trademark, copyright and trade secrets

After completing the workshop and mentoring program, Priscila had the knowledge and resources to improve her business. The first step was to boost Q Cheff’s online audience, which she achieved using advertising on social media. After just a week of advertising, her posts had received over 15,000 views at a low cost per engagement.

The second step was to protect her business’ IP, and Priscila has now successfully registered a trademark and copyright for Q Cheff. “These are essential to ensure the recognition and exclusivity of the company’s products on the market,” she says. “Both the trademark and copyright have provided me with legal certainty and peace of mind, knowing that my products are properly protected.” Priscila is also looking into protecting her trademark in other countries through the Madrid System, which allows people to file trademarks in multiple countries using a single international application, as well as protecting her recipes with trade secrets. In the meantime, she has established a confidentiality agreement with the plant that produces her condiments.

A growing IP portfolio and an improved use of digital marketing have given Q Cheff a stable foundation on which to build. Priscila is preparing to register a new product and shift to more sustainable packaging for her condiments that she hopes to be able to protect through industrial designs. In the meantime, she remains an enthusiastic cook and promoter of Q Cheff, exhibiting her products at expositions in Brazil, Dubai, Japan and the United States, and even cooking on Panamanian television. The same passion that inspired Q Cheff five years ago – the love of good food and the joy of a shared meal – continues to drive this up-and-coming business.