Bettinna’s sweet spot

MANILA, Philippines - She may be out of the teleserye scene these days but Bettinna Carlos is far from being idle. The 26-year-old actress is chef Boy Logro’s sous chef in Idol sa Kusina and is in charge of whipping up desserts towards the end of the cooking show that airs Sunday evenings on GMA News TV.

She, too, is busy working around in her own kitchen as chief baker of Baked Bites by ABC, her home-based baking business which she practically operates solo — from purchasing of ingredients to measuring, mixing and baking to designing of the box logo to packaging and delivery of the products.

Bettinna relates that she was not into cooking or baking before the idea of putting up a business came to mind. It was in 2008 when baking caught her interest after receiving a book on baking from her then chef boyfriend. “I read it page by page and started baking as a hobby.”

When she got pregnant, Bettinna enrolled in chef Heny Sison’s school in 2010. She took up the lifestyle courses on pizza and commercial bread-making. According to her, the business came about shortly after she separated with the dad of her daughter.

“I didn’t really plan it (business),” shares Bettinna who graduated at the Ateneo de Manila University with a degree in communications technology and management. “I just woke up one day and prayed on  what I can do since I knew I couldn’t go right back to acting because I was not physically and emotionally ready to be away from my daughter and I was breastfeeding her. Besides, I was single-handedly raising her with just my mom and my lola so I asked the Lord to give me something to augment my income with whatever little money I have left na lang and I wasn’t seriously considering going back to showbiz kasi feeling ko so-so naman ’yung career ko; ’di naman ako superstar status so I asked the Lord to help me find a way to raise my daughter. Then, one day, I woke up with an idea to make money out of an expensive hobby.”

Bettinna initially tried her hand at making brownies, saying that “it took me seven days to perfect my first brownie.” She successfully sold the first box of brownies to her grandmother’s friend that eventually led to bulk orders.

“Baking is very precise. It’s not like cooking na salt, pepper and water ganyan. This one, you have to be faithful to the recipe and Pinoys have such discerning tongues na dapat ’di maiba ang lasa. But eventually pwede ka na rin mag-invent.”

And it didn’t take her long to concoct her own. In fact, her original Nutella Rocks landed in the Top 10 at the eighth Ultimate Taste Test organized by food and travel blog Our Awesome Planet. “After I was blessed to be part of the Top 10, that was the time when the name (Baked Bites) became popular, nag-stick na sa mga tao.”

Bettinna believes that success can be achieved when there is love, dedication, passion and trust in God. By the way, Bettinna also writes a column for The STAR’s sister paper Pilipino Star Ngayon.

“I prayed for whatever it is that I have. I also learned from my mom that when you go into business, you have to be aggressive. You have to take the initiative, (you have to) push yourself. It’s your passion that will push you to look for ways to continue what you’re doing. You have to love what you’re doing also because if not hindi rin lalabas na masarap even if you follow the recipe (to the letter).”

Aside from Nutella Rocks, Bettinna also came up with Red Velvet Brownies, White Rose Red Velvet Cuppycakes, Oreo Cheesecake Cookies, Dulce de Leche Pecan and Dark Fudge Brownies.

Her baked goodies have already gone places. They are available at Raintree Teapresso Blends “and then at Moonleaf (branches). It was only this year when I started expanding through getting resellers in the provinces. (It was) June of this year when I started the door-to-door delivery.”

And due to rapid increase in orders, Bettinna recently had her first customized delivery motorcycle and hired a driver. “But I’m still the only one who does the baking and my mom and lola help in washing the utensils.”

She wishes to have her own outlet one day. Right now, Bettinna deems it best to do online selling so that people can have easy access to her products and for her products to reach more places. Marian Rivera, she relates, is among those who never fail to place an order month after month.

(For those who are eager to get a taste of Bettinna’s baked goodies, simply order via SMS to 0917-861BITE.)