food businesses

Career shifts in lockdown: How these women started their first online food businesses

Steph Arnaldo

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Career shifts in lockdown: How these women started their first online food businesses
With their main sources of income gone, this is how a professional photographer, real estate agent, and speech therapist turned to food to cope in lockdown

One scroll through your Facebook feed and there’s no denying that the home culinary scene is thriving – suddenly, your friend is now selling chocolate chip cookies, another one is offering sourdough breads for sale, and a technologically-challenged tita now sells her lutong-bahay dishes on Instagram.

Don’t forget shawarma bake or samgyup bake, right after sushi bake – and many other ECQ baked trends joining the ube cheese pandesal in the long list of food trends.

Home-based online food businesses are everywhere now, with both cooks and customers in an overwhelmed yet happy tizzy – and rightfully so. With many suddenly forced to work from home, now with extra time on their hands, food seems like the best way to go – because really, when was it not?

But more than a side passion or a money-making hobby, food has become a lifeline for many, especially for those suddenly without a daily source of income. These people had to pivot ASAP, just to put food on the table.

Different careers, same problem

Among the hardest hit are contractual freelancers, and 28-year-old Mara Lapuz, a professional events photographer, is no stranger to this difficulty.

Business owners and practicing professionals are also not spared – 33-year-old Carmel Dela Cruz and 28-year-old sister Mariel had to shift gears, too.

Prior to being a full-time, stay-at-home mom to a 3-year-old daughter, Carmel was a commercial model on the side, co-owner of a dog grooming salon, owner of a small clothing boutique, and a real estate agent for international clients at Rockwell Land.

Mariel is a certified speech-language pathologist, providing therapy for children with special needs and speech and language disorders.

SISTERS. Carmel (left) and Mariel (right) are the founders of Foodstudio.ph.

Three different jobs, all with the same problem – a lull during the pandemic, with bills still to pay.

Luckily, though, neither of them are total strangers in the kitchen. When she isn’t documenting events, Mara experiments with pantry leftovers at home, while Mariel has been a self-taught home cook since she was 10. Like many, these buried passions were dug up – hobbies that have now become their lockdown bread and butter.

Sideline turned lifeline: How it all started

“This pandemic has taught people ways of surviving. For me, it gave birth to Wild Berries, an unexpected opportunity,” Mara said of her cheesecakes and pastries business.

Mara baked for days on end until she finally got the quality she liked – tart, creamy cheesecakes topped with fruits, baked, chilled, and served in golden tin cans.

WILD BERRIES MNL.

But what started out as just a pet project for friends and colleagues in April turned into a full-blown business – thanks to social media and word-of-mouth, which, according to Mara, really is the “best kind of advertising,” especially during this time.

“Slowly, I was receiving more orders from people I didn’t know! So I decided to take it more seriously. I created my first official Facebook page for Wild Berries on May 7, 2020,” Mara said. From just blueberry cheesecakes Mara expanded to strawberry, mango, and even to cookies and brownies.

BROWNIES.

“I always consider the things I love doing in choosing any career movement. I believe that when you love what you do, it becomes a passion and it is no longer that much of tedious work,” Mara added.

Sisters Mariel and Carmel also built their first food business together in lockdown – foodstudio.ph, a home-based Japanese fusion sushi roll shop brought to life after two stagnant months of no work and all routine – plus the saving grace of food.

“It’s just wake up, find something to do (draw, paint, workout, cook) and then sleep. The only thing that kept me going was cooking a themed meal for the family everyday,” Carmel said. From Greek, Spanish, Thai, Italian, Chinese, to Japanese, Carmel said that “traveling the world” through their tastebuds became one way her family coped in lockdown.

Of course, no homemade dish goes unpublished on Instagram – once Mariel began posting photos of Carmel’s culinary creations, envious comments followed.

And so, foodstudio was officially launched on May 5, 2020 – not just because of peer pressure, but also because of the quirky cravings of Carmel’s 3-year-old daughter, Isobelle.

“Her favorite snacks are seaweed, carrots, cucumber, Japanese mayo, and edamame, so voila – sushi rolls! Also, our family loves Japanese food so we wanted to use the freshest Norwegian salmon and renowned tuna from General Santos,” Carmel said.

FOODSTUDIO MENU

Combining the basics of sushi with unconventional ingredients and different flavor combos, foodstudio’s unique menu was born: peking chicken rolls, beef bulgogi maki, Pinoy-inspired breakfast rolls, to even kimchi-spam-egg maki rolls.

Growing pains, lessons learned

As fun as it can be, the home-based food industry is no easy feat, and for a first-time food business owner like Carmel, it took a while to overcome her initial hesitations – like how to source out ingredients consistently and find the right packaging.

“It was very challenging at first, given the limited supply and difficulty of shipping items during the ECQ. Customers surprisingly always ordered in bulk, so we had to be resourceful and used our shopping bags,” Carmel shared. With enough searching, however, they eventually found reliable suppliers of fresh and premium ingredients every day.

SUSHI ROLLS.

It was the same problem for Mara, too – finding the right resources at the best price to keep her business afloat.

“I had to do a lot of research on where to get my raw materials, to be able to offer my products at a cheaper cost and give my customers value for their money,” Mara said.

On top of that, spending time to answer inquiries ASAP was also something Mara had to get used to – but now, talking to customers has now become one of the more relaxing parts of her day (aside from binging K-drama series).

COOKIES.

“In this business, raw materials of high quality matter. Changing the raw material will have an effect on the taste profile, so even if my margins are small, I am okay with it for as long as I offer quality products,” Mara said.

For Carmel and Mariel, though, foodstudio’s fast-growing popularity became a double-edged sword – it was a blessing, yes, but also a problem: they both had trouble keeping up with the sheer volume of orders per day, especially on holidays.

HOME COOK. Carmel is in charge of Foodstudio’s day-to-day operations.

“We had a “blockbuster day’ wherein we served 30 aburi trays, 30 sushi rolls, 25 sashimi trays, and 5 salads all in one day! So we made sure to distribute orders into time slots. Unforeseen circumstances were drivers arriving two hours before or after their expected time, which caused the overlapping of schedule,” Carmel said, who slept at 2 am the night before to prepare.

“If there was one lesson learned, it would be: no matter how hard you prepare the day before, there may always be obstacles that will arise. You just need to exude grace under pressure.” Carmel and Mariel also addressed this with task management – assigning a point-person to a specific dish.

A day in the life

Managing a food business at home is like being on-call 24/7 – it’s a never-ending cycle of customer inquiries and order fulfillment, on top of the actual cooking and baking. Like Mara’s bakery, this can go on from morning until night, depending on the kind of food served.

“Before I go to bed, I reply to my customers, taking note of orders for the following day. I bake a day in advance because cheesecakes need to set before delivery,” Mara said.

Her day usually starts at 8 am – an hour to herself before replying to more inquiries at 9 am, while eating breakfast. 10 am is reserved for making personalized notes for her clients, while 11 am is booking time for riders. 

After lunch is when the magic happens – from 2 pm to 6 pm, Mara prepares the next day’s batch of orders – baking cakes, cookies, packing them, and then storing them in the fridge, all while cleaning any mess and answering more inquiries. After 8 pm is Mara’s me time – until she has to reply to more customers before signing off for sleep.

Other days of the week are for “hoarding” raw materials, to not have to shop frequently. If it’s a slow day, Mara uses the time to create new recipes.

For Carmel and Mariel, their jam-packed days start bright and early – once 7 am hits, the kitchen is already bustling.

“We immediately assemble all the ingredients, prepare meals, and serve throughout the day – we have breakfast, lunch, merienda, and dinner time slots – that we even sometimes forget to eat lunch,” Carmel said.

Last orders are delivered at 6 pm, but there is no rest for the wicked: their evening is spent collating orders for the next day.

“The irony is that we don’t even have the luxury of time to prepare our themed family meals anymore,” Carmel said.

On special “blockbuster” days, pre-preparations end as late as 2 am, with a 6 am wake-up call a few hours later.

Here to stay? The best parts of business

Entrepreneurial woes aside, Mara, Carmel, and Mariel are still in it for the long haul, even after the lockdown (whenever that might be).

“I feel blessed to be a part of my clients’ tables, whether it’s for a simple meal or a special occasion. Dessert is happy food,” Mara said.

For Carmel, the “overwhelming support” of friends and family was enough to keep going, as well as extending a hand to other online shops.

“We loved the opportunity to collaborate with other close friends and their businesses as well, as a way to help each other and support local, especially during these trying times,” Carmel said.

Of course, happy customers and the relationships built through time remain to be their strongest motivation.

“It was inspiring when customers ordered the entire menu, or even re-ordered on the exact same day after lunch. One customer loved our salmon aburi tray so much that she literally ordered it for one whole week for lunch,” said Carmel. Neither sisters expected their “passion project” to take off so suddenly.

Noticing the positive effect their food had on people, Carmel decided to make things a bit more personal– sending gift deliveries with a witty note attached (“Ikaw ang SUSHI ng puso ko”), and even handwriting letters from customers abroad who want to surprise their loved ones in the Philippines.

“Honestly, the whole business industry is very new to me, being in the medical field as a speech-language pathologist,” Mariel said.

“Fortunately, every day is an exciting opportunity to learn the wonders of the kitchen as I’m guided by my sister, an entrepreneur and the best chef, according to our family,” she added.

Seeing re-orders as well, Mara decided, albeit hesitantly, to start investing in materials – a bigger oven, premium baking pans of different sizes – even with limited money coming in.

“Even if each centavo counts, I just thought of the pros and cons – you can’t go wrong in the food industry. Food is an integral part of human existence, so there is always a market for quality and affordable food,” Mara said.

“Wild Berries is here to stay even after the lockdown, for as long as our customers want us to be part of their tables,” she added.

“As of the moment, we still strive to continue serving our customers as long as we can,” Mariel said, albeit not forever.

“Once it is safe to travel and borders are lifted, Carmel and Isobelle will migrate to Singapore, so hopefully, foodstudio.SG will be born there!”

And as cliche as it may sound, when one door closes, a window opens – and for these budding female entrepreneurs, the pandemic did exactly that – provide them with a chance they might not have taken if not for the lockdown.

“The ECQ opened doors for a lot of people, including me. It taught us resiliency, it taught us resourcefulness, and it paved the way to Wild Berries. This business is my newfound joy – being able to do what I love while earning money is something not everybody can experience,” Mara said.

To check out Wild Berries, you can visit its Instagram page. You can also visit Foodstudio’s Instagram page for orders. – Rappler.com

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Steph Arnaldo

If she’s not writing about food, she’s probably thinking about it. From advertising copywriter to freelance feature writer, Steph Arnaldo finally turned her part-time passion into a full-time career. She’s written about food, lifestyle, and wellness for Rappler since 2018.