“There’s no such thing as too much when it comes to sweet treats! Satisfy your cravings with us!”
The Bekshop is a pandemic borne business owned and managed by the four Pacuño siblings with the eldest, Princess Therese Pacuño, serving as head manager. Princess is one of the 105 graduates of the Youth Entrepreneurship Program or YEP! of the Department of Trade and Industry.
Due to the community lockdowns brought about by the pandemic, Ms. Pacuño returned home in July to stay with her family. Whilst at home, the family celebrated their grandfather’s birthday where the siblings decided to bake a cake. The cake was a hit among their visitors and that little birthday celebration started the sibling’s sweet business.
Since then, they started selling refrigerated cakes such as Graham de leche, Ube Decandence, and Oreo Cloudcake. With the success of refrigerated cakes, The Bekshop expanded their menu items with Red Velvet Pandesal to cakes and cupcakes. They offer a wide array of sweet and sumptuous flavors to choose from including ube, coffee mocha, chocolate, red velvet, strawberry, and matcha. They also offer different fillings for cake orders like buttercream, chocolate buttercream, cream cheese, and whipped strawberry cream. “Beksissies”, a term coined for their customers, can choose their preferred cake size, flavor, and filling from their variations. The Bekshop also accepts design preferences subject to additional charges.
Despite the popularity of their bakeshop, the siblings remained humble and innovative. They also introduced the “Bento Cake” concept to the cake lovers in the province. A bento cake is a Korean lunchbox cake that is 4x4" in size especially made for beksissies who wanted to buy cakes in smaller sizes, fit for everyday dessert or merienda.
With the success of their pandemic borne business, Pacuño stated that more than the booming business, “…the baking sessions with my siblings is one of our way to bond with each other. We are able to profit and at the same time, bond and enjoy our passion for baking. This activity helps lessen our boredom especially during this Pandemic. We still want our day to be productive even if we’re at home. Instead of watching Netflix and browsing the social media the whole day, why not just do what we really love. In that way we are able to profit and at the same time, bond and enjoy our passion for baking.”
As a YEP graduate and through DTI’s different programs and activities, The Bekshop was able to expand their knowledge, a huge help for starting young entrepreneur-owned businesses in the middle of a pandemic. “The acquired practical skills and positive attitude, greater awareness of society, a sharpened appetite for active engagement, new competences and confidence to play a part which will surely help me in managing our small business. With DTI’s assistance, I am confident that my dreams will soon become a reality”, says Pacuño.
Truly, when you follow your passion in life, slowly but surely, your dreams manifest into reality. When you’re doing what you love, you are already realizing a dream.
Indeed, The Bekshop is a sweet story of success for young Abrenian entrepreneurs.
By: DTI-CAR
