Still hot after 30 years

CEBU, Philippines -  Tray after tray of steaming hot bread wafting with a sweet, piquant aroma couldn’t be more than 30 minutes old, but the rich experience of buying these breads freshly baked in one’s own neighborhood and served with courteous greetings and warm smiles is the benchmark of Julie’s Bakeshop’s 30 successful years of enhancing the Filipino way with food.

From one small modest bakeshop opened in 1981 to provide the bread products for a canteen business, Julie’s Bakeshop branches now number several hundred all over the Philippines.

“I only asked for one,” Julie’s Bakeshop’s founder – Mrs. Julia Gandionco, said as she acknowledged how the venture she innovated became her whole family’s corporate success.

Franchising the business was key to Julie’s Bakeshop’s phenomenal expansion and market leadership, with its franchise model continuously recognized with awards of excellence starting just a year after the first full franchise Julie’s Bakeshop opened in 1998 in Camiguin Island.

Today, some 140 franchisees operate about 99 percent of all Julie’s Bakeshop branches.

To kick off its 30th year in the bakeshop industry, Julie’s Bakeshop recently held a touch point seminar dubbed “Raising the Franchisee Service Standards” with Ateneo de Manila University Graduate School of Business Professor Enrique Soriano III.

Julie’s Franchise Corporation slated the company’s national convention from March 10 to 12, 2011 at the Marco Polo Plaza Hotel in Lahug. It was on Day 2 that topics such as labor laws in franchised businesses and cash flow management were tackled in break-up sessions.

At the 2nd floor foyer, a photo exhibit entitled “Breaking Barriers, Touching Lives” showcased the corporate social responsibility programs of JFC featuring its official mascot, Tita Julie. Recipients were the Bantay Bata 163 of Pusok, Lapu-Lapu City, as well as in Carcar City; Julie’s Village, Holy Family Homes in Tayud which is a housing project for JFC’s loyal employees; and Operation Smile 2011.

The rest of the activities were designed to impart creative ideas to help franchisees succeed.

According to JFC’s chief executive officer Joseph Gandionco, Julie’s Bakeshop “seriously takes this commitment for the long haul with continuing strategic improvements in various business aspects.”

The company logo, he explained, is now without borders. “This allows the bold upward strokes of its fonts to suggest a swift boundless flight into myriad opportunities. The logo complements the new store design that sports a fresh vibrant look.”

Product development also aims to satisfy the higher expectations of the modern customer with improved classic favorites and new bread offering, this was further learned from JFC chairman Patricia Gandionco-Uy.

Now the country’s largest bakeshop chain, Julie’s Bakeshop at 30 years and onward will keep on serving distinctively delicious, freshly baked, quality breads in the only way it knows how – with love and care. — (FREEMAN)