Marinduque is known for its Moriones Festival, an annual Lenten festival that features street parade participants called “Moriones” garbed in costumes and masks to depict biblical Roman soldiers.
Marinduque, which is a small island located in Southwestern Tagalog Region, is also known for its arrowroot or uraro cookies.
One bakeshop in Marinduque famous for its uraro cookies is Rey’s Bakeshop in Sta. Cruz town.
Rey’s Bakeshop was established in 1987 by Josefa Rodil, a home economics teacher. She used to attend seminars on food processing because of her work until she came up with her version of arrowroot cookies. Her passion for baking led her to start a small home-based business. After Rodil’s retirement in 1992, the home business moved into a separate bakery shop that offers other pastries and bread aside from arrowroot cookies.
The business started with two full-time employees–Rodil’s husband Rolando Rey and their adopted child Felisa. Rolando Rey served as the marketing arm and production staff of the business.
The simple home business turned into one of the province’s all-time favorites as their cookies were sold around Marinduque. Income generated by the bakeshop was able to support the needs of the family. In 2017, the couple’s daughter Eunice Rey quit her corporate job abroad and helped her parents manage the business.
To upgrade her skills in running the business and also improve the bakeshop, Eunice decided to join the second batch of the Department of Trade and Industry’s (DTI) Kapatid Mentor Micro-Enterprise (KMME) program in 2018.
KMME is a mentorship program designed by DTI as a mini Masters in Business Administration course, offered free to entrepreneurs who want to level up their businesses.
Through DTI’s help, Rey’s Bakeshop has been included in the department’s different programs, such as the One Town, One Product (OTOP), where the bakeshop was able to avail free services such as laboratory testing for Nutrition Facts, new label and packaging, Trademark registration, and a number of programs that helped professionalize how the business was run.
Through DTI, Eunice was able to showcase the bakeshop’s arrowroot cookies by joining local trade fairs such as the Marinduque Expo and MIMAROPA Naturally, among others.
From a P200 starting capital in 1987, Rey’s Bakeshop’s assets increased to P3 million and its manpower grew with ten full-time and five part-time employees. Its annual sales of P100,000 also increased to P1.5 million.
The family faced one big hurdle with the passing of Rodil’s husband in 2019. Eunice took over the business with the supervision of her mother.
For the business to still thrive in COVID-19 pandemic, Rey’s Bakeshop started selling its products online through different e-commerce channels. Through the use of social media, Rey’s products reached other provinces such as Laguna, Cavite, and even some parts of Metro Manila.
As the demand for products increased because of e-commerce, the small farmers in Eunice’s community also benefited by supplying Rey’s Bakeshop with the raw materials for making uraro cookies.
From a home-based business to now famous Marinduque bakeshop, Rey’s Bakeshop is a testament that perseverance and innovation can make a small business a success story through generations.
