The Pastry Company: From Supplying Cafés to Satisfying Cravings
- The Garlic Press
- Aug 4, 2022
- 4 min read
When you’re sitting in a café enjoying your coffee and a perfect slice of cake, you’re probably enjoying one of The Pastry Company’s creations.
Brother and sister Raymond and Carolyn Lee started a side project while they were working together with their other siblings running their late parents’ bakery manufacturing business. Their main business produced local breads supplied to wet markets and stalls around Metro Manila, while they were creating more imaginative creations on the side.
“Around 2012, we started facing challenges in our segment of the industry and we’re looking for ways to shift the business to make it more profitable,” Raymond recalled. “At the same time our friends were getting married left and right and some of them started asking us to make cupcakes, dessert stations, and cakes for them.”
“We initially declined, until one of my friends needed a last-minute raunchy fondant cake for a bachelorette party. Having graduated in industrial design, I had a background in clay modeling. My sister, who graduated in multimedia arts, knew design. So together we decided to give it a try,” he explained.
After that cake, more friends started sending requests for more mouthwatering creations like French macarons and caviar pies. They gave it a shot and it became a hit. With the warm response from friends and family, they decided to sell it online.
“We realized that tapping the upper market was the way to go, but since the backbone of our business was in wholesale, we decided instead to primarily sell to cafés and restaurants and then subsequently sell online,” he shared.
And The Pastry Company was born. By 2013, it became the second source of income for their family. In 2017, they decided to shut down the bakery manufacturing business and focus on The Pastry Company’s growth.
“My sister Carolyn and I wanted to continue this part of the business, but also to continue the legacy of our parents, so we regrouped… In July 2019, we officially incorporated our own manufacturing bakery business called Hungry Gastronomers with The Pastry Company as its primary brand.”
Despite its steady growth, they had a hard time securing enough capital and manpower to sustain it. But they managed to work through the challenges. Today, The Pastry Company supplies cakes, breads, and pastries to over 50 restaurants, cafés, and even hotels in Metro Manila. Their online retail store (available via Instagram, Facebook, and GrabFood) has also gained a significant following.
The Pastry Company is also one of the few businesses that miraculously experienced growth despite the lockdowns.
“During the pandemic, 70% of our clients were closed and the remaining 30% were partially opened, so we had to follow suit. After the first lockdown, we only operated three days a week,” Raymond said. “However, the pandemic was actually a blessing in disguise for us in terms of the retail side of the business. Prior to 2020, we’ve been selling online but it wasn’t getting much traction except during the Christmas season. But during the pandemic, we learned to build our online presence and thankfully we were able to connect with retail customers.”
Their mouthwatering offers comes from memories of what they personally loved when they were kids as well as inspirations from their travels. Today, The Pastry Company’s best-sellers include Classic Ube Cake (fluffy ube-flavored chiffon with silky whipped cream in between; one of the best, if not the best, ube cakes in the metro), New York Cheesecake (rich, creamy, yet not too dense; tastes even better after days in the fridge), Triple Chocolate Cheesecake, Calamansi Pie (tart calamansi cream filling with a graham crust), as well as freshly baked breads like Brioche and Ciabatta, and of course their signature Caviar Pie with Smoked Salmon (which comes with melba toast or crostinis). They even offer Caviar Pie bundles with Prosecco!
Our personal recommendations include their Dark Chocolate Ganache Cake, featuring layers of moist chocolate cake with gooey chocolate ganache, not too sweet, perfect with coffee or tea; Ube Leche Flan Cake, which combines two of the best desserts made by Pinoys: velvety smooth leche flan on top and moist ube cake underneath; Mango Cream Cake, a fluffy yet creamy cake with lots of fresh ripe mangoes; and their Mocha Chiffon Cake, which gets even better (not bitter!) with coffee.
With their growing business, the Hungry Gastronomers team has more in store for loyal fans and new customers. Now that they’re expanding their commissary, they have more room to experiment and release new cake flavors.
“We are also planning for a store and café,” shared Raymond.
There are so many reasons to love The Pastry Company: their light and fluffy chiffon (featured in most of their cakes), the perfect balance of sweetness (not too sweet, perfect as a snack), and its surprisingly affordable prices compared to other bakeries. You can tell with every bite that they don’t scrimp the ingredients. As they shared, quality ingredients and their flavor profile are their top priorities. I had my first taste of The Pastry Company’s Classic Ube Cake and Calamansi Pie in 2021 (thanks to food stylist Sharlene Tan-Aspe) and I fell in love with their creations. It became my favorite gift for clients and friends.
For Raymond and Carolyn, the best parts of running their own business are the customers who believe in and enjoy their creations, being able to compensate their employees fairly and take care of them, and of course, continuing their parents’ legacy of high quality baked goods that taste great down to the last crumb.
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