Teenage Sandria Cadusale was already fond of and engaged with doing business. She would sell sambag and yema to her friends and classmates, a hobby that lasted even when she finished college.

The fad has remained until she was employed as an accountant management officer. Sandria also decided to pursue graduate school where she started selling barquillos, a recipe she learned from her brothers-in-law way before.

This was sold to her classmates to fill their empty stomachs while mastering the night classes until Sandria was able to have her products displayed in office and school canteens. She also ventured in providing commissary with her househelps as employees.

She was relentless with pursuing this even with both work and studies, and not a day she remembers she got tired. She always loved what she does. Her products have then penetrated supermarkets and cafes.

It was in 2018 when Sandria joined DTI’s Kapatid Mentor Me (KMME) Program. This has allowed her to better her foodstuffs and widen her reach.

Her classmates and mentors would continuously suggest her new flavors. She took their advice and improved her products every time, until her lessons were realized.

She was able to dispose in local and international markets and Pasalubong Centers. She has also improved the packaging and labeling of her products with the One Town, One Product (OTOP) program and participated in trade fairs.

While the world was put to a halt during the pandemic, Sandria’s business was sustained as she pivoted to food packaging.

Some of her inventory that weren’t shipped out due to restrictions were donated to the frontliners and hospitals as ‘gutom savers’. This was also her way of sharing her blessings in the challenging times.

To date, Sandria’s food supplying business has grown more along her delicacies and closed deals with corporate accounts. She has been providing 500 meal packs daily to a big company in Cebu and to Visayas wide stalls of a famous convenience store that include her sandwiches, salad, breakfast and frozen meals. Her famous barquiron, barquillos filled with polvoron, are also dispayed in local malls, and are shipped out internationally.

With this, she was also able to employ more people and triple her sales.

For Sandria, her secret ingredient is passion. Her desire to do more was fueled with interest and love for food making and serving. Interested buyers and distributors may reach them via their Facebook page: Sandria. For more information on local products and produce proudly made from Cebu, visit DTI Cebu Facebook page.♦

Date of Release: 11 January 2021