Children’s school closes, artisanal pastry business opens

MANILA, Philippines — Businesswoman Suzette Tieng Yu has a virus. It’s named Unbridled Joy and it’s highly contagious. With a constantly sunny disposition and entrepreneurial grit, she founded the Sunny Skies Learning Center in Quezon City and nurtured it for 17 years.

The school — which teaches music, movement, and social and communication skills to children — was a successful small business, with an average of 300 students enrolled annually in four learning levels: The Baby Class, The Toddler Group, The Preschoolers, and The Big Kids.

Then the Covid-19 pandemic struck. The school had to close temporarily on March 14. Fortunately for Suzette, she had a second passion: baking.

“I started baking organic cinnamon rolls at home during one rainy, no-class day in August 2019 when I was terribly bored,” the Chinese-Canadian-Filipina recalls. “When classes resumed, I served fresh cinnamon rolls to the students and parents, and they loved them so much! That’s how the moms at my school became my first customers. When the enhanced community quarantine (ECQ) orders were given, the parents, who missed my cinnamon rolls, started ordering them by the tray. The orders just grew and grew.”

Suzette’s been a health advocate since 2007 and a vegetarian Buddhist for most of her adult life. “I decided to go organic. I always fed my students organic food, with gluten-free dough freshly made every day,” she says. “And when you mix organic honey with cinnamon, the antioxidant benefit is greater, so I went with that.”

The rolls — 32 pieces per tray at 40 grams each — keep well in the freezer for three weeks but typically, says Suzette, her customers consume the trays in one day. “Some customers wipe ’em out in less than 30 minutes,” she says, laughing.

The ex-teacher stresses quality over quantity, so only a few trays are made every day. Everything is artisanal. Suzette doesn’t even use a mixer; for her it’s better to feel the consistency of the extra-virgin coconut oil with other ingredients when the process is done by hand. The handmade rolls are purely organic, containing no improvers, bromates or emulsifiers. “I use gluten-free flour, extra-virgin coconut oil, gourmet sea salt, clover honey and Saigon cinnamon,” she explains. “Along the way my eldest son, Russell Scott, helped me tweak the recipe. I now have three versions: the original version has sea salt caramel; the diabetic/seniors variant has no caramel, less coco sugar, no salt but has clover honey; and my latest, chocolate rolls.”

Today, a few weeks after Metro Manila was locked down, Suzette’s new gig is booming, with an average of 40 trays delivered weekly. Daily orders pile up so quickly she’s asking customers to order way in advance. At first, Suzette delivered orders herself or by couriers. Now she has a network of dealers in Ayala Heights, Fairview, New Manila, and Antipolo, with Makati and BGC dealers currently being developed.

Suzette considers herself lucky, because while many businesses are failing during this global pandemic, her new venture is making progress. What started as a hobby is now Suzette’s Gluten-Free Artisanal Pastries — a full-fledged business with a Facebook page.

A few days ago, the landlord of her Quezon City school heard of Suzette’s newfound success and invited her to come back and use the property for her food venture. She declined, as she plans to shift her school’s operations to her Greenhills branch.

“I don’t want to pay rent any more!” she declares. “Besides, every morning I get to relax in my garden, hear the birds sing, and afterwards, bake goodies in my own kitchen in my rent-free home.”