Frustrated pizza customer makes, grows own brand
It’s a business triggered by frustration. Alberto Biaño always loved pizza and enjoyed its flavors.
One time, however, he got frustrated after eating a product by a famous fastfood chain.
“I was not satisfied by its flavor. In fact the local homemade brand Yummy Yummy’s tastes better, so I thought of making my own pizza that combines the strength of both,” said Biaño.
Biaño then enrolled in a basic cooking class in Caro and Marie to learn the basics about food and the different cooking processes.
Biaño started with square-shaped pizzas that he cooked in an oven toaster and sold to his neighbors in Mabolo.
In 2004, his pizzas could compete with local homemade brands such as Mom’s and Yummy Yummy’s Pizza.
“I started with selling to my neighbors in Mabolo who gave a really positive feedback about my pizza,” said Biaño.
In 2005 he has to stop selling pizzas after he got a job as a sales agent of a detergent powder brand.
His job took most of his time that he couldn’t spare time to make and sell pizzas.
However, during his free time, he continued to experiment on his pizza. And so in 2007, he quit his job and decided to go full-time in his pizza business.
He decided to raise the bar in the homemade pizza business by improving his product. He also invested P5,000 to start the pizza brand, Biaño’s Pizzaderia, rolling.
His pizzas were now round-shaped and baked in an oven.
He also partnered with couple JM and Kathy Yap to help him grow the business.
Kathy Yap, the company’s marketing officer, said there wasn’t much competition in 2007 and the business grew.
From a home-based enterprise in 2007, Biaño’s Pizzaderia has grown to a company that has 23 branches spread across Visayas and Mindanao regions.
“The first branch is in Mabolo, which we opened in 2009. After that, we just kept expanding,” Yap said.
In Cebu they have branches in Tabunok, Basak, Labangon, Capitol, University of San Carlos main, Mabolo and in Mactan.
“All our branches within Cebu are company-owned while those outside of Cebu are franchise branches,” said Yap.
Yap said that most of their franchisees often get in contact with them first and ask to grant them franchise rights for Biaño’s Pizzaderia.
“That’s one reason why we don’t have a fix price for our franchise fee because it will depend on a lot of things like the place where they want to have the franchise branch,” said Yap.
From a workforce of only about five people, they now have at least six people hired in every branch.
From their house as the production area, they have also set up a separate commissary that will soon open in Basak to cater to all their production needs.
Biaño currently handles the production and research and development department of the company developing more variants for their customers.
At present they have 22 different flavors for all types of customers, from the kids to those that only wants vegetables in their pizza.
“We recently introduced a new flavor called chorizo jalapeno, which features the rich sweet taste of Cebuano homemade chorizo,” said Yap.
They even have pizza flavors for lent—tuna melt and chicken teriyaki .
Yap said they planned their Mabolo branch in J. King and Sons building, which would have a bigger space to seat more clients.
The move will be on May 28, which is Biaño’s Pizzaderia’s fifth anniversary.
