SUCCESSFUL DESSERT RESTAURANTS IN THE PHILIPPINES

1. LOVE DESSERTS: A BUFFET RESTAURANT FOR THE ULTIMATE

DESSERT LOVER!

If you want a table at Love Desserts during peak hours, get in line. These days the

waiting list is long, but when the dessert buffet opened in December 2011, it was a

completely different story.

“The first two months were really unforgettable for me,” says co-founder Jen Chua. The

now-sought-after dessert buffet launched to a lukewarm reception: Sure, her friends

stopped by for the first few days. But after that, customers trickled in. A low point saw

Love Desserts entertaining only around four customers daily—nine on a good day. 

“We [wondered] how long we would be able to sustain the losses we incurred every day,”

she recalls. “We had to prepare everything, not knowing how many people would come

in.”

But instead of losing hope, she refused to throw in the towel—not until she had given it

her all. Chua toughed it out and found ways to bootstrap: She closed off an area of the

restaurant, turned off an air-conditioning unit to save power, and trimmed items from the

menu to reduce food waste. 

She hung in there, and before long, the tide turned: The concept of an affordably priced

one-stop dessert destination caught on, especially among students. Now, Chua is

preparing to franchise the concept and open a second branch within the year. 

“Experience in business is expensive. The risk of going up or down is always there,” she

says. “When you start a business, [you have to] be able to accept that it can all be charged

to experience.”

2. The Vanilla Cupcake Bakery (VCB) is Manila’s cupcake wonderland.

Offering a wide variety of cupcake  flavors and an ambiance worthy of your instagram,

twitter and facebook - the go-to haven of every sweet tooth.

3. CUPCAKES BY SONJA: The Secret of Success, and the Future of Cupcakes in Manila!

CUPCAKES BY SONJA  is the pioneering Gourmet Cupcakes brand by Sonja Ocampo,

which started the Cupcake Craze in Manila back in 2006. Finally, they are building more

concept stores around the metro to take the cupcake experience to a different level.

4. SEBASTIAN’S ICE CREAM

How did you start your food business?

We started out making homemade ice cream to supplement the dessert menu at our

family-owned restaurant. I soon recognized the potential of the Ice Cream which

eventually surpassed that of the actual resto. Rebranding it as Sebastian’s Ice Cream, we

opened our first scooping station in Manila at the Podium Mall in 2008, and we’ve been

churning our way into the hearts (and tummies) of foodies everywhere ever since. 

What inspired you to start your business?

The utter lack of imagination at the selection of ice cream flavors available at the time.

Choices back then were just basically vanilla, chocolate, strawberry, ube, and mocha. If

you wanted anything beyond that, like a simple Banana Ice Cream, your only option back

then was literally to go to another country. I didn’t think that should be the case, so I took

it upon myself to get an ice cream churn, a recipe book, and just started making the

flavors that I wanted instead of waiting for the big brands to do it for us.  

What are your best sellers?

1. Sapin Sapin Ice Cream

2. Once In A blue Moon Blue Cheese Ice Cream with Palawan Honey and Walnuts

3. Leche Flan Ice Cream Pizza

4. Red Velvet Chilly Burger

What do you think makes your products unique or stand out?

Our Head Sorbetero Ian Carandang is an intensely passionate and creative individual

dedicated to pushing the boundaries of Ice Cream and Frozen novelties. From Blue

Cheese Ice Cream to Green Mango Sorbet with Bagoong, the only limitation he imposes

upon himself is that in the end, it must be delicious. 

5. PASTRY CHEF – Malolos Bulacan