Madison Inouye at Pexels[/caption] In fact, Gardenia Bakeries Philippines, maker of the popular Gardenia brand of bread and pastries, has launched a new business program that enables startup entrepreneurs to have their own business. A TICKET TO PROFITS Take the case of former bus inspector Godofredo Molde, 45, who has pocketed P500,000 in just a year of selling pan de sal. Armed with P150,000 in startup funds and a lot of guts, he took the plunge of starting his own business - and came out on top. He has parlayed his bold investment to foot house repairs and acquire a delivery truck for his growing business. "I used my P150,000 capital in acquiring the three small pan de sal stores of my friend’s brother, and that included some goodwill money for the recipe and training. I have added another store since," he said. The revolving daily capital for the four stores, he said, is only P7,000. Molde decided to concentrate on pan de sal because its market is more predictable and the stores only need to stay open from 5 am to 9 am. One of his stores, sells P6,000 worth of pan de sal daily during weekends, and P4,000 during regular days on the average. According to him, pocketing a cool P2,000 profit is the norm for each of his bakeries. A PROFITABLE BUSINESS Ric Pinca, executive director of the Philippine Association of Flour Millers (Pafmil), agrees that indeed “baking is a rewarding and profitable business.” “Bread is the country's second staple and everyone eats bread. Though consumed mainly as breakfast and snack fare, bread is also taken at lunch, usually as burgers and even dinner time. Bread is a convenience type of food. You don’t have to sit and have a formal dinner just to eat bread. In fast food shops, you may get your bread right at the counter and you even don't have to call a waiter to serve you.” Bread, he added, may be consumed while walking, riding a bus or even while whiling away time anywhere. But while the bakery business is a profitable one, Pinca said it is also a demanding profession. Aside from investing money, he said a good amount of time, patience and study is required if one is to put up a successful bakery business. SET UP YOUR OWN BAKERY Pinca shared these tips on how you too can start a bakery business from scratch: 1. Study the business Before you put up a bakery, you must first learn how to bake. Many people make the mistake of putting up a bakery without first knowing how bread is baked. It is not enough that you hired bakers to do the work, you must also know the baking process so that your bakers would not give you a run-around. A month of training is enough especially if the training program you enroll in has plenty of hands-on activities, meaning you are asked to bake and not just sit and listen and watch the demonstrations. There are a lot of training centers and culinary schools offering baking courses. But the best baking courses are offered by the flour mills themselves. And more often than not, these courses are offered free of charge to prospective bakers as part of the company's marketing efforts. So get in touch with any of the local flour mills and ask for their training schedules. 2. Look for a good location A food business like a bakery depends on high human traffic. Look for a location where people congregate like a market, near a school, a bus or jeepney terminal or even a tricycle terminal and put up your bakery there. The people that populate your area are your target customers. 3. Suit your products to your customers If your bakery is in Tondo, then your products should suit the people of Tondo. Do not produce pastries like apple streudels or Italian Rye Breads or Belgian cookies because these products are not the type that people in Tondo consume. These products are for the shopping mall crowd. Try producing pan de sal, Monay, tasty breads, ensaymada etc. These are bakery goods that people in Tondo are familiar with and regularly consume. Also, these are products they can afford. 4. Start small It is better to start small especially if you are new in the business. If the business grows, then it will be easy for you to expand, rather than start big and downsize later. Suit the type and size of equipment you will buy to the volume of products you want to produce. remember, you should not produce more than you can sell. 5. Buy the right sized equipment Do not get a mixer with a one bag of flour capacity if your oven can only take in eight plantas or 160 pcs of pandesal at a time. One bag of flour normally produces 1,880 pieces of pan de sal weighing 25 grams each. Get technical help from equipment dealers. Do not just deal with one. Get the best offer and technical advise you can get. 6. Maintain product consistency Make sure that your bread tastes the same today as it did yesterday and as it would tomorrow. Customers return to buy bread when they like its taste. Do not give them a different tasting bread when they return because they will either complain or not return anymore. 7. Be good to your employees Take good care of your employees and give them the right salary. If your employee is happy, they will take care of your business and make sure that your customers are happy too. A happy customer will always return and buy more. And you are assured that your business will grow. Saving Tips on Baking: 1. Remember, the most basic cake recipe can also be used to make other kinds of bread. So be creative! 2. It's better to use all-purpose flour compared to the regular baking flours. It's not only cheaper, it also has more protein! 3. To cut costs on ingredients, you can use oil or margarine as a cheaper alternative to butter. 4. When you're saving on your ingredients, it's better to scrimp on sugar but never on flour. Sources: entrepreneur.com.ph, Hanep BuhaySource: Business Diary Philippines
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