Marking a milestone

These days, the world of business, especially food business, is so competitive that businesses come and go. You’re here today and gone tomorrow if your concept is not unique or trendy, your products are average and your finances are extremely limited. You cannot open a business today and expect it to fly in a year’s time.

But if your business is in order, your products are outstanding, and you invest pure talent and super hard work into it, the Universe sees and will reward you with good business.

This is true with chef Kris Edison Tan, the multi-talented pastry chef behind Masa Madre Bakehouse, which is celebrating its fifth anniversary this March. He started his career in the world of bread-making by joining — and winning — competitions. Locally, he competed in the Philippine Culinary Cup and won the highest honors with his bread creations. Then he took his talent overseas by representing the Philippines, often with other members of the Pastry Alliance of the Philippines, in international competitions, such as the Mondial du Pain in France. Again, he brought home the highest awards, thus proving that the Filipino talent could compete with the best of the world.

Business-wise, chef Kris began making his presence felt on 5 March 2021, when he opened his very own Masa Madre Bakehouse. He named it “masa madre,” which means “mother dough,” a levain used to help breads rise and which he always uses in making his breads. It started as an online test kitchen for chef Kris’ consultancies and for his family, friends and co-chefs to try. He sent over free breads to friends and co-chefs for them to try, and through their help with postings in their personal social media accounts, that led to features in magazines and newspapers, random people began to know about chef Kris’ wonderful breads. He also joined pop-ups to get more people to know about the breads that he had been making.

Things changed big time when someone decided to order freshly-baked breads from chef Kris on a weekly basis. The same person encouraged other friends to do the same, and since orders were already coming in big quantities, chef Kris decided to open the online bakeshop, where orders were placed and delivery arrangements were made.

Two years later, specifically in August 2023, he opened the Masa Madre café at Cocolight Building in Bonifacio Global City, Taguig City, so the bread-loving public could also enjoy his breads. He decided to open a café instead of a bakeshop so he could also serve other items, such as sandwiches and hot dishes. At the same time, the café served as a convenient pick-up place not only for the bakeshop’s signature breads but also for pre-ordered items that are not readily available off the counter, such as Focaccia Bread and Brioche Loaf.

His signature items, of course, remain to be his original creations, beginning with perfectly shaped and baked Croissants, Pain au Chocolat and Baguettes.

What sets Masa Madre apart is that chef Kris never rests on his laurels. Instead, he keeps creating new products using pastry dough as his base, and almost all of his efforts turn out positive results for him. These include Croloaf (a soft and fluffy loaf made with pastry dough so that it has croissant texture and is crunchy with its layers when toasted) and Crobites (bite-sized croissant cubes that come in different flavors, such as matcha and cinnamon). He has also included relatively new creations on the regular menu, including Pastel de Nata (Masa Madre’s take on Portuguese Egg Tarts but using its signature croissant dough for the crust) and Cheese Puff (classic Cheese Roll but with flaky croissant dough coated with sugar instead of the usual bread-type dough).

And for occasions such as Valentine’s Day, Mother’s Day and Christmas, chef Kris and his kitchen team come up with a set of limited-edition breads and pastries designed for the specific occasion.

Five years of operations have transformed Masa Madre from a home-based kitchen experiment to a full-fledged viennoiserie and café with a commissary that supplies more than 200 cafés with breads and pastries. Along the way, chef Kris was named Bread Ambassador of the Philippines by the Ambassadeurs du Pain, an organization based in France, and Masa Madre was awarded as the Best Viennoiserie internationally.

What else can Chef Kris wish for?

“I want the brand to have a few more branches to serve people from different parts of the country and, eventually, an international branch,” he said.