BREADS BY BIRI: Crafting Comfort Food Delights for the Filipino Community in the UAE
The baking industry has long been a cornerstone of culinary traditions, providing delectable treats that tantalize our taste buds and evoke feelings of comfort and nostalgia. From fluffy bread loaves to mouth-watering cakes and pastries, the art of baking has captured the hearts and palates of people around the world.
When Veronica Akiew, A Malaysian and an entrepreneur who has been living in the UAE for 4 years, started her enterprise BREADS BY BIRI, she had a clear business strategy behind the enterprise. She did some intensive market research on the ex-pat community living in the UAE and zeroed down on the Filipino Community. There are currently over 1 million Philipino Expatriates living in the UAE.
What the research and interaction with the community also revealed was that there was this yearning for comfort food like bread, sweets, cakes, etc. with that distinct Filipino flavor. Veronica spotted this opportunity and BREADS BY BIRI commenced operations. In the beginning, the brand catered to B2B customers, mainly the supermarkets within Abu Dhabi City especially supermarkets with a big Philipino clienteles like Metro Manila Supermarket. Veronica convinced these big retailers to start stocking freshly baked breads & pastries by BREADS By Biri and replenished them regularly. Being a kitchen that produces only FRESH breads with no preservatives or any other nasties, and frequent replenishment to ensure the best product quality, BREADS By Biri quickly gained a following amongst the Philippino community in Abu Dhabi. Starting from one outlet, BREADS BY BIRI quickly added a few more.
“The supermarkets loved our products because there are not many FRESH Filipino/ Asian-specific breads and pastries, we were fast selling and also very affordably priced” Says Veronica.
Today the brand is also available as a B2C product and is receiving a lot of love from its growing customer base in and around Abu Dhabi. BREADS By Biri is now available on for order online via their social media or on UAE well known delivery partner, Talabat.
Its very famous Cake-in-A-tub: Graham De Leche Cake and the delicious Steamed Siopao Asado can’t be baked fast enough to meet demand. Ube Cheese Ensaymadas (a super fluffy brioche bread topped with sweet ube and savoury cheese) are also very popular. Creamy Cheesecake Cups with assorted toppings and toasted beef/ chicken buns are party favourites. Gourmet Chocolate Chip Cookies, Buttery Golden Croissants, Fresh Hopias, A large selection of Asian soft bread rolls… the menu just goes on and on. You can pick up what you love at any of the outlets or even order a mix of all for any special occasion. It’s the best way to add some sweetness to a celebration.
On the way to creating a popular household brand
From 2018, through the crisis of the pandemic and up to now, BREADS BY BIRI has remained steadfast in its commitment to freshness and quality. This in turn has created a good buzz for its products in the community of customers it serves.
“I have worked hard to come where I have reached today. I have done everything from closing big business deals to delivering bread cartons to supermarkets myself. As the owner of a startup, I often find myself doing everything required to make the business work.” Shared Veronica.
Fresh products packaged under the label BREADS BY BIRI, are available at more than 12 popular outlets, spread across Hyper Markets and even smaller outlets in Abu Dhabi. The brand is live on Talabat too – https://www.talabat.com/uae/breads-by-biri
A second kitchen has also recently been started in Al Nahyan, Abu Dhabi. All these are signs of a brand that has established itself, knows exactly what its customers want, and delivers it too!
As Veronica mentions, she wants her products to be available in most supermarkets in the UAE and at the pace it is growing now, this may soon be a business reality.
To read more visit – https://instagram.com/breads_bybiri?igshid=MzRlODBiNWFlZA==
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