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The man behind Johnny Cupcakes |
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by Lorie Ann A. Cascaro
Published in Edge Davao The Business Weekly
June 14, 2010
Aside from being the owner of the only cupcake store in Davao City, John is the only man who does everything–literally everything–involved in the cupcake business.
Everyday, except Sunday (his market day), Jonathan T. Ramirez, or John to his friends, is busy in his small space at R2 Valgosons Corporate Center along Arellano Street. Along with the offices, diners and shops located at the arcade, the modest Johnny Cupcakes establishment may be found with the owner cum chef inside.
The multi-tasking job doesn’t bother this man though because of his passion for cooking and eating. “Mahilig kasi akong kumain kaya yung mga gusto kong kainin niluluto ko (Because I’m fond of eating, I prefer to cook what I want to eat),” he said.
But, the story of John going into the baking business and putting up his own store had nothing to do with his fondness for food. He wasn’t even a chef when he embarked on what ultimately became his career. For that matter, he first enrolled in a computer science course at the College of St. Benilde in Manila, hoping to help in his family’s printing business in Davao city.
His passion for food finally caught up with him during his third year and he gave up on his computer course and enrolled in a two-year course at the Center for Culinary Arts, also in Manila, where he devoted much of his time concocting his favorite main dishes. In 2004, he worked in various hotels in Manila; did cooking demonstrations of recipes he himself created for SM websites in all SM malls in Luzon.
John had decided on taking up culinary arts because of his ardent desire to ‘invent’ main dishes. But, somehow, he felt something missing in his new calling and realized, shortly, that he just loved to bake and was meant to be a baker after all. And so, once more, John found himself studying again—this time applying online for a two-year course at the California Culinary Academy in San Francisco in 2007. Even while he was still a student there, he was hired by a French restaurant where he discovered new techniques in baking pastries.
Graduating suma cum laude from the school, Jonathan returned to the Philippines and remained unemployed for a year because he was deemed “overqualified”. While waiting for employment, he baked cupcakes at home to sell to coffee shops whose owners eventually found themselves ordering for their own consumptions instead—testimony to the quality of his product. John decided then and there to put up his bakeshop which he patterned after a cupcake “takeout” store in San Francisco, where he used to buy his own daily supply of cupcakes.
Because of good sales, thanks to his friends and patrons, he started to join bazaars, promoting his products as Christmas gifts as early as October of 2009. By the time the Yuletide season came around that same year, and judging from the volume of sales he racked up, John had better sales in the Yuletide season. John realized it as a good indicator for him to establish a store where customers would be able to take out or pick up their orders for special occasions like birthdays, weddings and anniversaries. He began to scout for a suitable place for his growing business.
“Gusto talaga namin ng sister ko magtayo ng diner, at first, inspired by “Johnny Rockets” sa States. Na-realize namin mas maganda kung more on takeouts kasi di masyado kailangan ng space (My sister and I first wanted to have a diner inspired by “Johnny Rockets” in the United States. But then we decided to make it more of a “takeout” store because it doesn’t consume a lot of space.),” the man in a white apron minus a chef’s toque said.
It was only in April 2010 when Johnny Cupcakes opened for business. The small store can accommodate more or less ten diners along with a small display chiller, refrigerator and oven embedded in the interior design, and an electric mixer.
John’s store is ideally located near schools, offices and other commercial establishments. “Sa mga bata pa lang na galing sa summer classes nila, ubos na ang display (Children alone coming from their summer classes bought all the cupcakes in sight),” he said. He bakes 300 cupcakes a day for display and orders. Most of the time, displays are all sold out, he said, which is good because there will be freshly baked cupcakes the next day.
The cupcakes
John says customers usually choose cupcakes over slices of cakes. Cupcakes are molded in cups, hence the name, and are more convenient to eat with no need for plate and fork, and are even easier to dispose of compared to slicing a whole piece of cake.
The best-selling Johnny Cupcakes are: Red Velvet (moist, red velvet with cream cheese frosting); Chocolate Surprise (cream cheese, chocolate chips and chocolate butter cream); and, Triple Chocolate (chocolate cake, chocolate chips and chocolate frostings).
Other flavors are Vanilla Bean, Mocha, and Chocolate Vanilla Bean, while “cupcake of the day” is featured only for a particular day. So far, the “cupcakes of the day” have been Pumpkin Spice, Carrot, Chunky Monkey (banana, walnuts, chocolate chips, peanut butter frosting), Dark Chocolate Beer (beer flavor without alcohol), Cream Cheese Frosting, and Tiramisu (vanilla cake, infused coffee, Marsala liquor, Mascarpone cheese icing, and coco powder on top).
Sold at P40 each, Johnny Cupcakes have a sophisticated presentation. Aside from the artistic and mouth-watering presentation on top, they go for takeout boxes in singles, fours, sixes or dozens. Its packaging is perfect for any occasion and recipient.
In the future, John has plans for a bigger space to eventually make it a cupcake house and coffee shop in one. And speaking of “one”, he does one-man shows. In John’s first three weeks, he had been the baker/waiter/dishwasher/cleaner/cashier all rolled into one in his store. Today, he has an assistant to do all the other menial chores. This is a good sign that 30 year-old bachelor John’s career-slash-business is destined for much, much better times ahead. |
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