Happy Bread Day

Sandwich holiday

By Demi Braque

Bread company Gardenia successfully celebrated its Happy Bread Day at the Glorietta Activity Center today. Coinciding with the national barangay elections, the event, simply dubbed “The Next Big Sandwich Hit (NBSH),” also culminated the final round of the cook-off participated by a number of culinary schools in and around metropolitan Manila.

The NBSH is Gardenia’s pioneering effort to scout for culinary geniuses amongst the country’s top schools in concocting the most appealing and flavorful, yet unique snack food, using Gardenia’s one-of-a-kind breads. “It’s really tough moving around the stall, with the pressure, heat and everything else,” exclaimed one of the contestants. “But it’s really exciting, as we can learn so much from this insightful experience.”

Part of the challenges of the inter-university sandwich-making and business generation competition was to test the salability of the teams’ creations in a weekend food bazaar like Mercato Centrale in Bonifacio Global City. The students’ entrepreneurial skills were put to the test as the participating schools all underwent a live ‘selling’ challenge at the city’s foremost weekend food hub on weekends leading to the finals..

The Mercato Centrale challenge comprised 15 per cent of the total criteria. The extensive use of sponsored ingredients weighed 35 per cent while the main challenge at the Glorietta bread fair comprised the other half of the score. The main challenge revolved around the entrants creating sandwiches out of a pre-determined set of ingredients.

“This competition is geared towards promoting healthy eating patterns; as well as increase sandwich making by using the classic white Gardenia bread. This is targeted to the Y-generation so as to harness their entrepreneurial skills. Moreover, it is hoped this undertaking creates more brand affinity,” intimated PR officer Jolly Ventura.

The grand champion La Consolacion College receive a price package amounting to P220K (including a P50K in cash, P50 K for a food stall with uniforms, P50K worth of Gardenia bread products for their school plus P20K worth of cooking equipment for the Culinary College; and a year’s supply of Gardenia breads to their winning team). The 1st runner-up, Far Eastern University, received P75K while 2nd runner-up, Polytechnic University of the Philippines, received P35K in cash.  

PUP won the Sponsors Challenge segment while University of Sto. Tomas won the on-line poll as well as being named the Crowd Tasting Choice Award recipient.

For more details on “The Next Big Sandwich Hit,” simply visit their Web site www.gardenia.com.ph.