Stanley Go, Mandaue Chamber of Commerce and Industry (MCCI) president (left), and Steven Yu, MCCI vice president for external affairs, discuss the upcoming Bakery World exhibition, which is organized by the MCCI and backed by Ah’s group. CDN PHOTO/JOSE SANTINO S. BUNACHITA
Small players in BAKING INDUSTRY
Small players in Cebu’s baking industry will need to scale up their businesses to compete globally.
This is the observation of Stanley Go, president of the Mandaue Chamber of Commerce and Industry (MCCI), on small businesses in the baking industry and how they can compete globally.
“We are no longer competing against local players. We are competing against the world. We need to level up so that bakers and other institutions will be able to compete globally,” Go said in a press conference on Tuesday where he announced the holding of the first ever Bakery World exhibition, which is organized by the MCCI.
“Having this exhibition allows us that opportunity to level up,” said Go.
Bakery World
The three-day Bakery World, which would run on October 5 to 7 at J Centre Mall, will allow bakeries and relevant industries in Cebu and the rest of the Visayas and Mindanao to get access to new technologies, market trends, available products, and services by industry suppliers who can help them grow their business.
At the same time, Go said that they would also be bringing in master bakers from South Korea and Taiwan to teach local bakers about trends in the international arena as well as new ideas and products that can be adopted.
The exhibit as well as the seminars and other activities during the Bakery World will be for free and open to the public.
Underserved market
“The intention of the MCCI is really to help the different industries in Mandaue and Cebu to level up their competency. For the baking industry, it’s an underserved market,” Go said.
Despite the fact that some of the biggest players in the baking industry in the country come from Cebu, there have been no bakery exhibitions in Cebu in the past and have only been done in Manila.
Last year, the MCCI was only able to mount a small bakery forum as part of the activities for the Mandaue Business Month.
But after this year’s first Bakery World, Go said they plan to hold this even every two. The event is also already patented under the MCCI.
Support
In mounting the Bakery World event, Go said they got help from Bien Enrico Ah, Immediate Past President of Filipino-Chinese Bakery Association Inc., who has been doing similar exhibitions mostly in Manila and recently in Davao.
According to Ah, they have always wanted to do a bakery exhibition in Cebu but the group’s directors are wary of its success.
This time though, he said he is personally helping and supporting the MCCI on the event on his own.
“Everybody’s afraid of failure. They didn’t think that some of the exhibitors in Manila actually started in Cebu. We’re happy that MCCI took the initiative. We will support this because they are doing it for a good cause,” Ah said.
Ah is also the founding president of the Philippine Society of Baking and is the production manager of Liberty Food Mart Inc.
45 exhibitors
On the Bakery World exhibition, at least 45 firms from Cebu and Manila have already committed to join the event.
The exhibitors from Cebu include Ngosiok Marketing, A.D. Gothong Manufacturing Corp., Treasure Island-iPak, Magic Melt Foods Inc., LTH Food Industries Inc., Fabritech/Mandaue Libertad, Julie’s Franchise Corp., Bigfood Trade & Commodities/RAC, SVI Distribution Corp., Global Pacific Distribution Corp., Virginia Foods Inc., Asian Grains Corp., Ricor Mills, Sweetlink Inc., Beauchem Thermtech Group Inc., New Datche Philippines Traders Corp., Southern Synergy Sales Corp., Asia’s Best Industrial Sales, Ever HRI Sales Inc., and DMC Busa Printers.
On the other hand, the exhibitors from Manila include Sealed Air Philippines Inc., Ingenti Radix Corp., Kalinisan Chemicals Corp., Bakersfield, JMCool Solutions Inc., Formway Trading and Services Inc., Heritage TPH Ventures Inc., Excellent Value Philippines Marketing Inc., Besterm International Corp., Tulip-The Embassy of Chocolate, Restoserve Marketing Corp., Innobake, Philippine Foremost Milling Corp., and General Milling Corp., among others.