“I was the first sidewalk cake vendor in the city and the rest is history,” said Golda Mae Lim, the owner and manager of Cakeboom Cakes and Party Flavors.
Cakeboom Cakes and Party Flavors produce quality, healthy and delicious pineapple-based pasalubong food products in the province of Bukidnon.
Golda and her husband started their business as sidewalk vendors of Filipino delicacies (puto and cutchinta) and cakes. The couple’s goal back then was to support their basic needs. Their only aim is to sell one cake a day to suffice for the family’s day-to-day living.
The demand for their products grew until they developed their own product line.
In 2008, their Piñasitas (pastry with pineapple filling) was recognized as Malaybalay’s best delicacy. They garnered the same award in the following year through Piñakasi (another pastry with pineapple, malunggay and squash).
Growing consumers’ patronage of their products resulted in increased demand, which led the couple to increase the distribution of their products. However, they cannot commit to its bigger volume requirement at that time.
In 2012, with the help of the Department of Science and Technology through Small Enterprises Technology Upgrading Program, Cakeboom upgraded its production equipment such as cooker mixers and continuous band sealer for better packaging.
“We are very thankful for the assistance shared by DOST through the Provincial S and T Center in Bukidnon. We become very efficient in producing quality products,” said Golda.
In 2016, Cakeboom Party and Flavors was awarded as the Best SETUP Adoptor in DOST- Region 10.
With the help of SETUP, the firm greatly improved its business operations from manual processing to semi-mechanized equipment also with the compliance with food safety standards resulting in the increase of product shelf life from six months to one year.
With the second phase of SETUP intervention, the firm acquired a rotary oven, which helped increase the volume of its products four times compared to the first phase.
It minimized baking time by 50 minutes or from four hours and 55 minutes to four hours and five minutes. Second, noted increased productivity by 20% or an equivalent of 16,610 pieces of cakes, ensaymada, and piñasitas from 83,052 pieces to 99, 662 pieces in the first year. Also, an increased sales by 32% or an equal of P 2,480, 099.20 from P 2,480, 099.20 to P 10,230, 409.20 in the first year. At present, Cakeboom is now establishing a name to bring pride for Bukidnon in the food processing industry. It has expanded its outlets in Malaybalay City from one to four existing outlets and is a great help in increasing employment opportunities.
SETUP is a nationwide strategy aimed at improving the productivity and competitiveness of micro, small, and medium enterprises. It provides a wide range of solutions which include technology transfer and commercialization, technical consultancy services (e.g. manufacturing productivity extension, consultancy for agricultural productivity enhancement, food safety, energy audit, cleaner production, etc.), packaging and labeling assistance, technology trainings, calibration and laboratory testing services and equipment acquisition through the innovation-enabling fund.
SETUP help firms upgrade technologies, the acquisition cost of which is amortized by the latter in equal monthly installments for three years, without interest.
From 2002 to 2016, the program enabled 341 micro-scale enterprises to graduate to small-scale; 20 firms leaped from being micro to medium enterprises; 90 from small to medium enterprises; and one from medium to large enterprise.