Cara Mia: Cool sweetness in this new-normal summer
MANILA, Philippines — The 40th Cara Mia branch was launched last April 9 while serving gratitude in the form of cakes and gelato at the SM Grand Central Caloocan.
A sweet history
It was the dream of Danny and Tessie Moran to make Cara Mia the Philippines’ home of premium cakes and gelato. But, when the Morans had made Amici gelato their fave in the ’90s it was still owned by the Don Bosco priests.
Sweet opportunity knocked for them in 2007 and they purchased Amici Restaurant.
In 2009, the Morans — joined by their sons Philip and Paolo and daughter Pammy — saw the potential of Cara Mia and decided to make it a separate brand from Amici, with the opening of its Greenhills branch.
Today, 25 years later, Cara Mia continues to offer sweetness and happiness to the palates of Filipinos.
Pandemic years
“During the last two pandemic years, because of the lockdowns, we saw a gigantic shift to food delivery,” said Philip Moran, COO and GM of Cara Mia and Amici Restaurant. “In response to the need of the times we started developing products which handled better through delivery; we also changed packaging to better withstand the travel.”
And, after two trying years, Cara Mia began the “new normal” and the reopening of face-to-face dining with the launch its 40th store. The festiveness of the situation did not go unnoticed, as the store was made even brighter by the addition of neon light elements to make it more attractive and Instagrammable.
“We know our market is mostly from the millennial segment so we made the stores more attractive and Instagram-ready, too,” added Philip.
Now that more people are out in the malls, there has been a huge increase in gelato sales, which is a welcome change from the pandemic years.
Philip says that it is only proper that the brand add more flavors for the many gelato-loving Pinoys.
“People continue to buy gelato and cakes, too, for celebrations now that they are able to go out more, so we are also ramping up our list of upcoming cakes, which we will be launching throughout the year,” he said.
The brand has been lucky as SM Grand Central is the third branch that opened this year. Cara Mia also opened SM Marilao and SM Lipa in the first quarter of 2022. Cara Mia plans to open four or five more stores this year.
“We will open two more branches of Cara Mia before Mother’s Day in SM Mall of Asia and SM Bicutan,” said Philip. “After all, lovers of dining out have been stuck at home for two years and are making up for lost time by revenge dining and revenge traveling, too.”
Philip adds that the volume of sales for gelato and cakes has been unprecedented in the past months. Thus, Cara Mia remains very bullish for the year ahead, as people start living their lives in the new normal.
40 stores and loving it
The milestone branch opened its doors with Cara Mia’s theme of fun, joy and vibrancy. Aside from the Cara Mia favorites, it currently has the new summer gelato flavors, Ube with White Chocolate, Mango Berry Medley and Peanut Butter, along with the current gelato line to go with the cakes that people have come to know and love from Cara Mia.
“Though dining in restaurants is now going through a robust re-growth, we still see strong growth in food delivery,” said Philip. “Food delivery is here to stay because of the new habits formed during the pandemic. Diners now have the option of good restaurant food choices available for home delivery.”
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For information, follow Cara Mia Cakes and Gelato on Facebook and @caramiaph on Instagram and TikTok.
