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Cebu City, Philippines - The cassava cake is catching the taste buds of many local customers, who earlier preferred bibingka, the famous Mandaue City delicacy, as their main dessert.
“A cassava cake maker” attributed the shift to the increase of the price of bibingka by a few pesos in the last five years and of course the cassava cake’s taste.
“People now prefer cassava (cake) because lami (delicious) and barato (affordable),” said Cherrie Yack Sr., owner of Cherrie’s Cassava Cake in Consolacion town, Cebu.
Yack, 45, traces his roots to Barili town, Cebu, has been selling the delicacy for 10 years owing from a recipe he obtained from a nephew.
The idea of starting the business was conceptualized in Pagadian City, the Yack family’s “second hometown.”
“I was working in Malaysia since 1991 when I realized that wala man gyud ko nadato (I have not gained economically). Going home in 1998, I told my wife that we will put up a business and the business I have in mind was cooking cassava,” he said.
The Yack family then transferred to Consolacion town, in northern Cebu and started the business there in 1998.
Start
He said that year he did not grab another chance to work in Malaysia but decided on starting the cassava cake business.
The initial investment was P17,000, more than his savings from the seven years he worked as an overseas Filipino worker.
He bought an oven, the ingredients. He initially produced around 30 kilos to sell to his neighbors and some vendors at the Mandaue City Public Market.
Being new in the market, Yack decided to consign his boxes of cassava cake to school canteens and market vendors so consumers can freely taste the delicacy.
What began as simple method of visiting the market vendors everyday to collect dues evolved into more concrete and tangible results.
Yack's earnings increased. He found himself hiring seven people to peel 400 kilos of cassava, prepare the raw mixture, work on the boxes and bake the cake in 12 ovens.
“Because of this business, I now have assets reaching P500,000. Dili man paspas ang pagtubo pero naa kanunay ba (The growth of the business is not fast but it is continuing steadily).”
Yack sells cassava cake at P50 to P72 per box of 12 slices depending on the place where the cakes are sold.
Yack also studies the profile of the students buying food there.
“Can they afford the product or do they have enough disposable income to buy the product,” he said.
Baking
For 400 kilos of cassava, Yack and his staff use a sack of refined sugar, and 30 cans of evaporated milk.
Cakes are baked in a small house specifically built for the purpose of baking cassava cake.
He said he collects at least P10,000 daily from the different branches of the University of Cebu (UC) where Cherrie’s cassava cakes are sold.
Around 75 percent or 300 kilos of his daily “baked goods” goes to vendors in the public market.
Yack said he delivers the cake at 2:30 a.m. everyday. These are usually sold out as early as 7 a.m. in the market.
High patronage of the cakes from schools such as UC, Southwestern University, University of San Carlos-Girls High and the Mandaue City Comprehensive High School has boosted his sales.
Advice
Yack advised fellow entrepreneurs to take advantage of micro-finance institutions (MFIs), which offer loans to micro entrepreneurs.
He said he got the money to buy his motorcycles to deliver his goods from an MFI loan.
He said selling cassava cakes was enough for the MFI to approve his loan application.
“I used the money to purchase two motorcycle units which I’m using to deliver cassava to the canteens and the public market,” he told Cebu Daily News in an interview.
Success formula
Yack, a high school graduate, said that lack of education is not a hindrance for any Filipino to succeed in business.
“Also, whatever business you are in, always have your wife as your business partner. In my case, sya ang nagdala sa accounting and budgeting. The important thing is that you also understand each other.”
Hard work, faith in God and the courage to accept failure are three best values which micro-entrepreneurs should espouse to succeed in business, said Yack.
“Filipinos should learn how to accept the sad scenario of losing (in business) because that is happening. There are many micro-entrepreneurs who are open to accept profit but close to accepting losses,” Yack said in Cebuano.
