This article was submitted as a feature for Cebu Daily New's Enterprise section. Every week, they feature SME's (small and medium enterprises) that became successful. When I visited this bakeshop, I was invited to taste their baked goods. Yum! Aside from lessons you get from successful people, you also get some nice "perks".
Lou’s passion for baking brings sweet success
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When she was in high school, Marilou Bordalba and her friends would attend free baking demonstrations.
Now 53 years old, she still makes it a point to attend baking-related seminars and conferences organized by a bakery association where she’s a member.
“It has always been my passion to bake,” said Bordalba.
In high school, she attended free baking classes school on Saturdays.
Students only had to bring their own ingredients to join the baking sessions, she said.
In college, she continued to pursue her baking lessons until she finished a Medical Technology course at the Southwestern University in Cebu City.
In her mid-20s, she returned to her hometown in Iligan and took a job as a Chinese language teacher of a local school.
“I only taught in the afternoon, so I was free in the morning. I used that free time to work on my baking skills,” she said.
The products she baked were sold to workers at a cement factory near her school.
She got married and stayed in Iligan for a year till her family returned to Cebu where she accepted an office clerk job in a cousin’s gasoline station.
Her cousin was then pregnant and needed help running the office.
Five years later in 1989, her sister-in-law suggested that they establish their own bakeshop.
In December 8, 1989,Mommy Lou’s Bakeshop was born.
The partners converted empty space in her family's lot into a display area and baking room.
They pooled their savings and invested P100,000 in buying equipment.
Bordalba handled the baking while her sister-in-law took care of the marketing.
Bordalba would give her friends free taste tests to experiment on the right mix of ingredients for her baked products.
“You will never be a baker without patience,” she told .
“You will always experience failed attempts. You have to constantly check the proportion of the ingredients to come up with the recipe that will please people,” she said.
Bordalba got the right mix and customers started noticing the bakeshop's products.
Her bestsellers include Francis bread, cassava cakes, American fudge, cheesecakes and her mini-rolls.
Shortly before the bakeshop’s first anniversary, Bordalba and her sister-in-law were able to recover thier investment.
Despite their early success, Bordalba said she hasn’t stopped researching new recipes and techniques to improve her business.
“It’s very important to innovate.
As a baker, I must not be content with what I already know, I have to always look ahead and be updated with what’s going on in the business.”
After 20 years in the business, Bordalba is also the secretary of the Cebu Bakeries Association.
Her position gave her opportunities to participate in seminars and food expo exhibits.
Whenever an opportunity to learn something new from Manila comes along, she doesn’t hesitate to travel.
Bordalba also sees to it that she introduces at least three to four new products a year. This way her customers always have fresh choices.
In her free time, she browses through cook books and the Internet to look for new techniques to to improve her baked goods.
“The principles I follow to make this business move forward, I owe it all to my Dad,” said Bordalba.
She said that while starting out in the business, she would make it a point to wake up early, since that’s what she learned from her father.
She said staying open to new ways to improve her business is a sure way to move forward.
Now 53 years old, she still makes it a point to attend baking-related seminars and conferences organized by a bakery association where she’s a member.
“It has always been my passion to bake,” said Bordalba.
In high school, she attended free baking classes school on Saturdays.
Students only had to bring their own ingredients to join the baking sessions, she said.
In college, she continued to pursue her baking lessons until she finished a Medical Technology course at the Southwestern University in Cebu City.
In her mid-20s, she returned to her hometown in Iligan and took a job as a Chinese language teacher of a local school.
“I only taught in the afternoon, so I was free in the morning. I used that free time to work on my baking skills,” she said.
The products she baked were sold to workers at a cement factory near her school.
She got married and stayed in Iligan for a year till her family returned to Cebu where she accepted an office clerk job in a cousin’s gasoline station.
Her cousin was then pregnant and needed help running the office.
Five years later in 1989, her sister-in-law suggested that they establish their own bakeshop.
In December 8, 1989,Mommy Lou’s Bakeshop was born.
The partners converted empty space in her family's lot into a display area and baking room.
They pooled their savings and invested P100,000 in buying equipment.
Bordalba handled the baking while her sister-in-law took care of the marketing.
Bordalba would give her friends free taste tests to experiment on the right mix of ingredients for her baked products.
“You will never be a baker without patience,” she told .
“You will always experience failed attempts. You have to constantly check the proportion of the ingredients to come up with the recipe that will please people,” she said.
Bordalba got the right mix and customers started noticing the bakeshop's products.
Her bestsellers include Francis bread, cassava cakes, American fudge, cheesecakes and her mini-rolls.
Shortly before the bakeshop’s first anniversary, Bordalba and her sister-in-law were able to recover thier investment.
Despite their early success, Bordalba said she hasn’t stopped researching new recipes and techniques to improve her business.
“It’s very important to innovate.
As a baker, I must not be content with what I already know, I have to always look ahead and be updated with what’s going on in the business.”
After 20 years in the business, Bordalba is also the secretary of the Cebu Bakeries Association.
Her position gave her opportunities to participate in seminars and food expo exhibits.
Whenever an opportunity to learn something new from Manila comes along, she doesn’t hesitate to travel.
Bordalba also sees to it that she introduces at least three to four new products a year. This way her customers always have fresh choices.
In her free time, she browses through cook books and the Internet to look for new techniques to to improve her baked goods.
“The principles I follow to make this business move forward, I owe it all to my Dad,” said Bordalba.
She said that while starting out in the business, she would make it a point to wake up early, since that’s what she learned from her father.
She said staying open to new ways to improve her business is a sure way to move forward.
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