by Sonia Tiong-Aquino
There are bakeshops and bakeshops everywhere, and then there is the French Baker.
Johnlu Koa’s bakeshop cum cafe has been at the top of the bakery industry for 18 years and is expected to remain a market leader for the years to come.
French Baker has become the brand of choice because it has a complete line of freshly-baked, nutritious, delicious and consistent quality authentic French and European breads (as well as local ones).
“I wanted to create a new concept, a new store category in the … fast food industry. “ He then did what nobody else was doing: He introduced French baking and eventually offered an alternative bakery-cum-café lifestyle dining in Manila.
From UP ISSI/SERDEF’s Dreamer’s , Doers Risk-takers Part 4, here are lessons both newbie and existing entrepreneurs can pick up from the Filipino “French Baker.”
Start-up
Johnlu Koa was in a predicament when he began the bakeshop. “I had no culinary degree, neither did I attend any cooking school. I worked on the business in a rather roundabout way. I relied on consultants and baking experts for the production function while I did the marketing part.”
He continues: “I graduated with a bachelor’s degree in business and hold an MBA from the UP Diliman. I then taught at the College of Business for 15 years. I also operated a neighborhood bakery. These helped prepare me for French Baker.”
He muses: “I was young, daring and single then and I also loved to travel. The antique looking bakeries I found on … the left bank of Paris fascinated me. I eventually realized there was no one doing French baking in the Philippines.
He relates the birth pangs prior to the growth of the business: “Every spare moment I had from work, I’d be in the bakery. I trained myself. I read recipe books, researched, cooked, baked. I was a self-taught baker. It was years later I decided to take technical training. I guess I turned out to be such a fine chef I was conferred Honorary Chef by CCA.”
The first French Baker was an 89-sq m bakeshop with a small dine-in area in SM City North EDSA. The location was ideal at that time because it was newly built and was catering to an upscale neighborhood.
He raised two million pesos in start-up capital. Personally incapable of putting together the initial investment, he relied on his family’s financial support to start up the venture.
Positioning strategy
From the very start Johnlu has been clear where to carve his market niche.
“French Baker appeals to shoppers and is positioned to those who do their regular dining and food purchasing in malls and supermarkets. By going to our shops, customers can experience freshness by smelling, tasting and seeing breads baked several times a day right before their eyes. Its casual dining ambience allows customers to consume the bakery products right on the premises.
French Baker has always been intended to cater to mall shoppers, 70 per cent of which are female.
Johnlu’s pride has found its market niche in a fairly large crowd aged from 6 to 60. They are the diners who prefer sweet, salty, semi-sweet sandwiches and cuisines and all kinds of mouth-watering breads.”