CEBUANO homegrown company La Fortuna is rebranding its six-decade old bakery business as it aims to capture today’s younger market.
Michael John Sy, general manager of the Cebuano-Chinese family-led enterprise, announced plans to enter the mall space as part of the firm’s rebranding efforts.
The eldest grandson of the Sy family who founded the business in 1953 also hinted possible move to franchise the brand to boost its growth moving forward.
“We are reaching out to the younger generation and keeping our loyal customers,” the young Sy said in an interview Friday, Oct. 25, 2019, at their newest fourth branch on Legaspi St. in downtown Cebu City.
The new store is near to the city’s major church attractions, the Cebu Metropolitan Cathedral and the Basilica Minore del Sto. Niño de Cebu.
It took about 20 years for the company to open a new branch because it has “kept the business within the family” over the past decades. The last time it opened a store was in 1998 at the Basilica Minore del Sto. Niño de Cebu.
With Sy, who belong to the family’s third generation, now at the helm of the firm’s operations, strategies are pointing to making the brand known to the young consumers.
“We are adapting to the times and we are introducing a new tagline which is ‘tasty and timeless’ and reintroducing our products to the market,” he said, citing the plan to boost the brand’s social media presence to be more visible in today’s mobile-driven market.
He said they are eyeing to open its first mall branch in Cebu City before this year ends.
“We’re branching out and we’re targeting the malls,” he noted, saying the target is to open at least eight branches in the future including mall stores and stand-alone branches.
He said they are also studying the possibility of franchising the brand, noting they’re now making the business processes “stable.”
For the past decades, La Fortuna has become a well-known maker of Chinese-inspired delicacies such as hopia, masi, tikoy, bilog, breads and other bakery products.
Humble beginnings
The business was founded by Don Ting Sy and Dona Vicenta Sy in Sept. 23, 1953, with their first ever store on Borromeo St., Cebu City. Currently, it also has a store in Capitol area and one overseas in Los Angeles, USA.
Ting Sy was a Chinese immigrant who came to the Philippines to help his parents in China. At the age of eight, he migrated to the country and worked as a helper in his uncle’s bakery in Binondo, Manila known as Diao Eng Chai.
In 1946 at age 27, he married Vicenta who was 16 at that time. Starting out a family in the 50s was very difficult in Manila then, so they were advised by their uncle to try their luck in Cebu. They visited Cebu several times before finally establishing the Cebu La Fortuna Bakery 65 years ago.
But the couple struggled in the first 10 years of the business. Vicenta would often consign the baked products to street and cycle vendors just to support their daily needs.
She knocked the doors of rich families to offer and introduce their bakery products while Ting would ride his bicycle all afternoon to sell his baked goods.
After several years, people had started to patronize their products and the brand recall had started to spread.
In 1970, Lorenzo Chao Sy, the couple’s eldest son, formed a basketball team bearing the La Fortuna brand, which eventually paved the way for it to be known to other provinces as the team would usually travel to various parts of the region.