Jennie has been working in a corporate setting with combined experiences in sales, journalism, marketing, training, and events management, for more than 25 years now. But it was during the time of pandemic that she finally decided to turn her baking passion into a profitable business. She started learning how to bake after her daughter was born in 2013. Right about the same time, she resigned from her stint as a News writer at RPN 9 to concentrate on her small business and on being a first-time mom.
She is the woman behind Pandera Bakeshop. Pandera is coined from the word ‘panadera’ which, in English, translates to ‘baker.’
Motherhood inspired Jennie to try and become the best version of herself in every way for her daughter. From handpicking fresh fruits and vegetables in the groceries and organic markets to food preparations, and baking and making nutritious snacks for her little girl. She became preoccupied with browsing recipe books, and watching cooking and baking shows on the television, and surfing the internet for some interesting bread pastries and cake recipes. “I bake at least twice a week, for personal consumption, and almost every day when there were orders from customers. I also see to it that when I bake something new, I let a couple of friends and family try it first, to get first-hand feedback from them,” she says.
Since I learned how to bake pandesal, you would seldom see me buy bread from groceries or bakeshops. I love how the aroma of freshly baked pandesal gives a very welcoming feeling to our home. That’s why I would rather bake it myself,” she adds. As the demand grew, she finally transitioned into turning her passion into a pandemic business, accomplishing her branding and registration in a matter of 5 days.
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| My birthday had been amazing because of this delicious dream cake made by Pandera Bakeshop! |
What took her so long to finally decide to put up her Pandera business? “I didn’t have the luxury of time to get into formal training, being a full-time mom, it was my personal choice to and a joint decision by Cassey’s dad and me to make the business a secondary priority while Cassey is still in her crucial development years. But now that she’s growing up, it is giving me more time to finally focus on the business we started,” Jennie added.
She also explains that starting a business requires full commitment. Once you start it, there’s no turning back. Thanks to the cloud business ideas there is a low barrier to entry and relatively cheaper startup costs. “I don’t have that much money to waste on a trial and error business, I’d rather be slow but sure, than be all out then fail,” she quipped. This is the reason why Pandera has not officially jumped from her home kitchen to an actual take-out bakeshop. Her cloud-business has profited in the past 3 years, even without an actual store, and has consistently paid its dues and taxes, but unlike other businesses, she feels that her funds are not yet enough to put up a full-blown store, and she does not believe in relying on business loans or getting an investor just to get a business started.
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| Artisan bread box, perfect for gift-giving. |
“I’ve seen a lot of start-up food businesses fail, this is why I am being very careful. It may seem slow, how my business is going now, and a lot of my friends and family members are upfront with me in suggesting I should take the risk. But, my instincts say I’d rather not. I may be a bit slow but there is movement, and I can see myself getting closer to my goal each day,” she explained.
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| Valentine's day, Christmas or any celebration - This Plato de Queso on Tampipi Box is also available at Pandera Bakeshop. Highly recommended! |
Pandera is currently supplying bread and pastries to small F&B business owners in Bulacan. She personally bakes all her products at the moment and has only 2 reliable assistants that help her with supply inventories, packaging, selling, and kitchen tasks. She continues to experiment with new additions to her menu and is looking forward to having her actual sit-down café very soon. She is also accepting Baking Workshops. For inquiries, you can visit her blog, www.thelifestylecheck.org, and Pandera on Facebook.
Pandera’s RECIPE for a start-up bakeshop business “When you put passion in the things that you do, no matter how slow or fast you go, you can turn anything raw into an amazing work of art! Always follow your instinct.”
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