“I think all those years I’ve been baking and selling online has led to this one moment. [I think now] I’ve proven myself as a baker, as a chef, and as an entrepreneur. I’m really grateful,” Wado Siman of Wadough’s said as he accepted his award as the first winner of Globe myBusiness’ Pitch Tuesdays: Most Inspired Startup Food Edition.
With a score of 91.47%, the business Siman started as a joke with his friends has evolved into an inspiring one.
“My friends wanted to see me bake. I’m a big guy, so they thought it might be funny if I baked stuff like cupcakes. They gave me a set of baking equipment for Christmas, and even an oven,” Siman fondly recalled. “I thought they were just trolling though.”
It was months after quitting his three-year stint as a video editor that Siman decided to take baking seriously. Without any formal culinary education, Siman made his cupcakes through recipes found on Google and YouTube, and experimented by incorporating unconventional ingredients. “My fear is to be compared to other bakers,” Siman said. “I don’t want to be compared because I know I’m no match for them. They studied hard, they know the proper formulas.”
Jokingly calling himself a “kontesero”, Siman seems to take well to challenges. After gaining recognition as one of ClickTheCity’s Top 20 Bakers for 2014 and his Twenty-Yolk Yema Cake as one of Philippine Star’s Top 12 Desserts in Manila, Siman went on to join the Lifestyle Network culinary reality show, The Clash: Search for the Next Dessert Master, at his friends’ prodding. Out of 70, he finished 4th.
Yet again, a friend telling him about Pitch Tuesdays was what led him to join, but not without hesitations. “Mercato’s market is really savory. I go to Mercato to drink beer and eat isaw, but not for dessert. It was a huge risk,” Siman said. “But I just wanted to try out…And it brought me here.”
For the competition, Siman created the Black Bottom Cupcake with Tablea Ganache. A fan of mixing flavors and textures, Siman incorporated salted cheesecake into the dark chocolate cupcake, and topped it with bitter Davao tablea ganache.
Out of hundreds of applicants from all over the country, 20 were chosen to sample their products for the Globe myBusiness Pitch Tuesdays: Most Inspired Startup Food Edition, a competition in partnership with the Mercato Centrale Group. Narrowed down to nine, the startups conducted taste tests at Globe Gen3 stores and had real market experience at Mercato BGC. Siman and two others—Neilkhan Bautista of Humbleger and Justin Uy of Mission District Taco Bar—were then chosen for a final round.
When asked by Globe’s Head of Retail Transformation, Joe Caliro, why Wadough’s should win, Siman expressed how the myBusiness package will be just the right push for his dessert business. Formally categorized as an “aspiring entrepreneur”, Siman hopes for Wadough’s to finally become a fulltime business: “We’re hopeful that if we combine (Globe myBusiness’) ad blast and Shopify, we can further expand our social media reach and establish ourselves on a digital space. A lot of people are telling us that we’re on the right track, but we don’t have the right tools for it.” But now with their Globe myBusiness Startup package and a 6-month free stay at Mercato, Siman and Wadough’s are sure to go a long way. ADVT.