A taste of buko pie may trigger a remembrance of road trips past

FOR many Filipinos, buko (young coconut) pie is the foundation of many road trip memories. Seeing that road trips have been suspended indefinitely due to the pandemic, perhaps a slice of pie will bring back memories of those trips?

While buying a pie from a roadside stand is not really possible these days, there is the option of getting one online. This is where Platefuly comes in.

The brother and sister team of Luisito and Liliane Barcelon dared to go into the pie business during the pandemic. Their brand, Platefuly, started in September last year by offering exactly six pie samples to friends and relatives. Since then, the Tagaytay-based pie operation has gone on to sell 30,000 pies.

“[Ever] since I can remember, our mom loved to experiment with recipes. When we all moved to South Korea, we would have many guests in our house and our mom would cook and bake new recipes all the time, whether Filipino or international cuisine,” said Mr. Barcelon in an e-mail to BusinessWorld. “Each year, our mom would bake pies for special occasions, but she was never really satisfied with the pie crust. Year after year, she would experiment more to improve her pie crust recipe. It was not until my parents was about to move to the Philippines to retire that she finally perfected her light, buttery, and flakey pie crust recipe.”

The pie crust recipe was developed initially for a Chicken Hand Pie (which this writer has tried: the crust itself had a great buttery taste and a nice crumble to it). The other pies came first, but the buko pie proved to be a bestseller.

Mr. Barcelon is going against many buko pies set in their ways, and settled into the minds of Southern Luzon tourists. He and his sister laid down their propositions for a superior pie: baked fresh daily, a creamy coconut filling, and a consistent taste whether served at room temperature or refrigerated.

They have since taken onboard a few workers who have had no prior experience in baking, most displaced by the pandemic. “Platefuly welcomes everyone in their team as long as they have the passion to create something new, have the willingness to learn, and love to be part of a positive team environment,” said Mr. Barcelon.

Mr. Barcelon discussed the challenges of opening a business during the pandemic — which frankly, from his point of view, sounded a bit fun.

“Despite the pandemic, we thought there wouldn’t be a better chance for us to start Platefuly. Since everyone was working from home and we had the support of our parents, we planned to see how things would start before committing to the business full time,” he said. “We were careful though, only expanding depending on the demand for our product. But our focus was not so much in sales in the beginning, but making our mom happy when we hear that people are enjoying her recipe and that they would like to order again.”

He gave tips to other small businesses who plan to kick off during this challenging time. “What worked with Platefuly and what we can tell other people who are thinking of starting a business during the pandemic is to focus on what you are passionate about and transform that as your business.

“My mom is passionate about cooking and baking. My sister and I are passionate on spreading our mom’s recipe to as many people as we can. We want the recipe that our mom created to reach as far as possible and bring joy to as many people as possible. This has been the center of Platefuly, to bring joy to our customers through our mom’s recipe,” he said.

Buko pies (including variations like the Premium Ube Buko Pie and Premium Buko Pandan Pie) can be ordered through Facebook and Instagram (@Platefuly), or e-mail (platefuly@gmail.com). Their other products are Classic Chicken Hand Pies, Savory Chicken Hand Pies, and El Paso Hand Pies (available by the piece and box) and cheesecakes (blueberry, strawberry and mango) in both tins and jars

While, yes, they are based in Tagaytay, pickup points for the pies (priced starting P285) can be arranged at Festival Mall or South Super Market in Alabang, Robinsons Forum in Mandaluyong, or Robinsons Galleria.