From house to bake house, let’s take a trip down memory lane and see how best things happened to Medellin’s local bakery, Bakerlane.
In 2011, Lord Alexander Dela Rama discovered his interest in baking.
He started with a business name of “Chasriel Bakery” providing their community in Medellin, Cebu with freshly baked bread. He also entered into consignment with small businesses like sari-sari stores of their delicacies like otap, patata, and huevos. But in 2013, a month before Christmas, Typhoon Yolanda happened and the bakery was devastated. He wanted to bring the business into life again and started to toast with the hopes of making it more successful someday. Then, the business was renamed Bakerlane.
It took Lord several years to beat the cream and bake again. He decided to rebrand to leave crumbs to the consumers. He also saw the great potential of their products and widened his market through friends and partners in the island of Cebu. It was in 2019 when he sought assistance in Negosyo Center Medellin.
DTI gave Bakerlane a huge impact on improving their business. A friend advised Lord to join the One Town, One Product (OTOP) seminar in August 2019, where he was able to learn the proper labeling and improve the packaging of his products.
He then battered his learnings and improved his packaging to become more presentable and saleable. This also led him in enrolling to the Kapatid Mentor Me Program. He said that learning while doing business was never easy but he successfully graduated and finished all the 12 modules. This gave him more ideas on how to make his business sustained despite any disruption, which reminded him of his downfall. With great goals in mind, he kneaded his learnings and was finally able to enter department stores, distributions, and Pasalubong Centers/ markets.
This also gave Bakerlane the opportunity to participate in trade fairs to include Pink October 2019, Sinulog Trade Fair 2020, and OTOP Hub.
Lord also said that DTI has helped him boost his confidence as a businessman and made him understand more the value of his products— that differ from anyone else. Step by step, his business started to grow more than usual. From the production of 12 kilos to 15 kilos every other day, he was able to produce double/ triple production per day.
He was also able to generate more jobs, from an employee of both husband and wife to about 10 workers. The business’ income has also multiplied tenfold.
Bakerlane is in the process of acquiring its FDA requirements to ensure that its products are of the best quality and safe for consumers. Despite the attack of COVID-19 to MSMEs, with a minimal impact on his income, his business still has remained operational.
Looking back on memory lane, Lord believes that he whipped this sweet success because he trusted, invested, took the risk, and welcomed opportunities that helped him as a businessman. Interested buyers and distributors may reach them via their Facebook page: Bakerlane Bakery. For more information on local products and produce proudly made from Cebu, visit DTI Cebu Facebook page. ♦
Date of Release: 15 December 2020