This is the story of how low priced Pinoy Tasty and PinoyPandesal became a part of Filipinos’dinner table.

Filipinos love carbohydrates, and if there’s anything we can’t live without – apart from rice, of course – its bread. These baked goods are a staple fare in every local dining table — a universal favorite that has countless versions lining neighborhood bakery shelves across all corners of the Philippines. 

Bread is typically consumed for any meal of the day. It completes every breakfast, merienda, or even midnight snacking and the downtimes we get in between cramming tasks at work from home and online classes. A convenient and go-to baon for outings, road trips, and out-of-town getaways, you will never go wrong with a pack of bread. 

From the well-loved pan de sal, Filipinos have grown to like different varieties of bread — from the classic Filipino sweet variants that satisfy their sweet tooth cravings to savory ones, to sliced loaf bread commonly called Tasty. 

The birth of Pinoy Tasty and Pinoy Pandesal

It was during the  Consumer Welfare Month in October 2010 when a generic 450-g loaf bread Pinoy Tasty was introduced to Filipinos. 

The Pinoy Tasty is a joint project of the Department of Trade and Industry (DTI) ,  the Food and Drug Administration, and the  bakery associations, namely the Philippine Baking Industry Group (Philbaking), the Filipino-Chinese Bakery Association, Inc. (FCBAI),  the Philippine Federation of Bakeries Association, Inc. (PFBAI) and the community bakeries , as part of their corporate social responsibility (CSR) to provide accessible and affordable bakery products to consumers and assist them in their basic daily needs.

Later in 2011, the industry groups also launched a more economical version of pan de sal and named it as Pinoy Pandesal.

Affordable yet Nutritious

As the decade-old generic sliced bread and pandesal are more affordable than branded products. Priced at P35 per loaf and P21.50 per 10-piece pack of pandesal, these are nearly half the price of branded breads sold in supermarkets.

Filipino Bakers developed a standard recipe for the Pinoy Tasty and Pinoy Pandesal using the basic baking ingredients of flour, salt, and sugar following a formula without having to add expensive ingredients that branded products offer. These still provide nutrition for the consumers with its locally-milled high protein enriched flour fortified with iron, and Vitamin A plus Iodine.  In the process of the formulation, the industry were ably led by Messrs. Walter Co, Simplicio Umali and Johnlu Koa.

In order to keep prices low for consumers, Bakers subsidize the cost of production of these breads, sacrifice profitability and consider providing Pinoy Tasty and Pinoy Pandesal as a Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) program.  This is why these breads’ prices have remained unchanged for years now despite substantial increases in the costs of baking and bakery ingredients, especially flour.   When wheat prices spiked and made local flour very expensive, the local flour industry joined the project in providing a reasonable priced Harinang Pinoy thru the efforts of the local flour millers associations. The retailers supported the project  and displayed  the bread in their shelves when they are assured of a net margin of 10% per loaf  of Pinoy  Tasty.

Widely distributed

Pinoy Tasty and Pinoy Pandesal are both available in more than 2,000 retailers, including supermarkets, convenience stores, groceries, drug stores and community bakeries nationwide. Two bakers are assigned per supermarket to ensure there is an ample supply of the affordable baked goods.

Bakers of these products include Classic Baker, Gardenia, Julies, Liberty, Marby, MLM Bakeshop, Sarimonde, Sunmaru, The French Baker, Uncle George,and Tinapayan and community bakeries under the Filipino-Chinese Bakery Association Inc. (FCBAI) and Philippine Federation of Bakeries Association Inc. (PFBAI).

Pinoy Tasty and Pinoy pandesal greatly contributed in the massive relief efforts when natural disaster hit thecountry. I remember vividly the relief operation in Tacloban due to Ondoy and the bakers had to shift the logistics of providing Pinoy Tasty in the ravaged areas via the Cebu production units.

While Piney Tasty and Pinoy Pandesal’s packaging look generic, the manufacturer’s name is printed at the front and the side of the pack.    It is still bread, as I kept assuring the consumers during the information drive when Pinoy Tasty was launched.  I understand about 500,000 loaves  of the 450 gram loaves are bought   monthly.

“Mura, masarap, masustansiya (Cheap, delicious, nutritious). That’s the tagline behind the success of Pinoy Tasty and Pinoy Pandesal.

Atty.  Vic Dimagiba

President of Laban Konsyumer Inc., AB, LLB, LLM

Email at [email protected]