One of my favorite places to have meetings or relax is Postrio Cakes and Pastries at the Banilad Town Center. There is just something about the place that makes me feel at home. I like the coffee, the food, the service, the whole concept. I actually like a lot of things about it. I like it even more after talking with the owner, Corito Escario Yu.
I have known Corito for almost a decade. When I was starting out, she and I opened separate shops next to each other. She has achieved a lot of success as a furniture and interior designer. So I was quite surprised to find out that she was behind Postrio too.
I found out that POSTRIO is actually two words fused together, POST short for the Spanish word Postre means dessert and trio is for the three Escario women, Corito, her sister Janice and her mom. I took the opportunity to ask her how she ended up in this business when she has always been more known as a furniture and interior designer? She replied, “ I always had the passion for baking and cooking, when I was young I used to help out in Celebrity Bakeshop, which was co owned by my mom and her sisters.” She added, “ I used to work with my cousins as waitress, salesgirl, and busgirl during summer break. Then eventually my mom and her sister Zelia opened their own called Honeysuckle Bakeshop beside Maanyag in Cebu Doctors.”
She started telling me how she had such happy and fond memories of her childhood helping out. She said , “The smell of bread just brought back happy thoughts spent in the kitchen with members of my family. This is why we started Postrio, we wanted to share and help create good memories for other people.”
“We had a lot of difficulty starting out. Though we had experience at it, it had been so long since we had a bakeshop. We had to learn and relearn a lot of things again.” She added, “We took a risk not knowing how the market would respond. We started out with Php 500,000. It was good that I had a lot of experience in interiors and construction so we were able to keep renovations cost down.”
“We were surprised at how the market accepted the products and the place. So many people have come up to us to express how they have made it a habit to drop by. Postrio is an extension of our family, and we wanted to people to feel like part of the family. We wanted it to be an experience.”
Postrio started out with one 50 sq m shop and is now currently operating 2 dine in shops and one cart. But this year they will open 2 additional dine in shops at the soon to open Parkmall at the new Mandaue Reclamation Area and at the Gaisano Fiesta Mall in Tabunok, Talisay.
Corito proudly declares, “The best business to be in is something you enjoy so much that it does not feel like work, you feel so passionate about it.” She adds with a lot of emotion, “ My parents gave me the greatest gift anyone could give a child. They believed in me.”
Corito’s story is an example of the concept of REASONS. She took Risks, Enjoys her work and Aspires to be the better; Serves the best, is committed to being Outstanding , has a Navigation map and contributes to Society. We are all capable of finding the right reasons to become entrepreneurs. We owe it to ourselves to find out if we truly can.
Let’s follow the examples of these ordinary individuals as they strive to make a difference. Each week, lets all get together and share knowledge, stories, experiences, information, all for the sole purpose of getting One Step Up.
For comments, suggestions or stories that you want to share, email me at stirspecialist@gmail.com , or visit www.stirspecialist.blogspot.com .