Recipe for business success

"So many want to put up a bakery but are clueless on how to go about it," said Gerry Chua, chairman of the Filipino-Chinese Bakery Association, Inc. Bakery Fair 2003 which will be held on Feb. 27 to March 1.

Current baking techniques and trends will be discussed in seminars at the trade fair site, the World Trade Center. The seminars are free, with 100 seats allocated for each seminar. To ensure that everybody sees the demonstrations, a big screen will be put up.

"Many of today’s new ingredients and products encourage healthy living. There are healthy cakes, healthy breads, and other no-preservative, no-chemical added products," said Chua.

Aside from the usual tasty food sampling, the trade fair will also showcase the newest technologies in baking. Exhibitors number more than 100 and include big players in the Philippines such as Gardenia, Eng Bee Tin, Bakerite, Goodman Fielder International Phil., Inc., Magnolia, Inc. The Purefoods Hormel Co., San Miguel Foods Inc.-Flour Business as well as from the neighboring countries of Malaysia, Japan, Taiwan and China.

"Instead of paying P80,000 for a few square meters, Bakery Fair 2003 exhibitors pay only P25,000. Whatever profits we earn will go back to the exhibitors. We are the first association to do that," said Chua.

Beginnings

FCBAI was put up in 1966 by owners of bakeries and allied industries.

"From the start, we have been strongly committed to the sharing of technical and management skills. During the early years, however, we limited our participation to conducting training seminars and courses," said Chua.

In 2001, FCBAI decided to organize its first trade fair to reach more people and to show the fast changing technologies that newcomers to the industry must learn to better compete in the marketplace. More than 18,000 people showed up at the Philippine International Trade Center.

For this year’s trade fair, about 25,000 visitors, from genuine food lovers to prospective bakery proprietors, are expected.

This is not surprising for an association which knows the recipe for business success–a careful balance of only the best ingredients.