More Than Just Cupcakes: A Look at M Bakery’s Secrets to Success

In this exclusive interview with the franchise owners themselves, we ask everything there is to know about M Bakery and its delicious offerings.

There's an art in choosing which international brand to bring in. Some choose to franchise brands for the hype, while others go for originality—something that can't be found here in the Philippines. But others? They choose a brand that is familiar enough to cause hype, but not too familiar that it easily becomes overshadowed.

The latter is exactly the thought process that Stewart Ong and Chef Candy Lu went with. As Managing Partners of Phil Jacobe Ventures Inc, the duo is responsible for bringing New York cupcake shop M Bakery to the Philippines.

Established in August of 1996, M Bakery started the cupcake craze in the US and around the world. In fact, the bakery has made a name for itself due to its pop culture reference—particularly that 30-seconder between Carrie Bradshaw and Miranda Hobbes in “Sex and the City" that inspired a cupcake named after her.

But more than that, what sets the store apart is its signature cupcake swirl (which is trademarked, according to Erick Larios, the director of franchise operations). What's more, M Bakery is credited for introducing its one-of-a-kind version of banana pudding. No wonder the arrival of this store in the Philippines was strongly anticipated by dessert enthusiasts and the cupcake shop's fans!

To know more about M Bakery, and what the store has planned for the coming years, we talked to the franchisers themselves in this exclusive interview.