When the three Conti sisters who founded the popular food chain Conti’s Bakeshop and Restaurant opened the doors to their first store in 1997, they could not have imagined the impact they would have on other women's lives.
For them, putting up their business was simply about loving what they do, supporting each other, and serving others with their best.
“As we make each other happy, we also make our customers happy,” says Angie Conti-Martinez. “Whatever we are gifted of, we enhance it, and we have to make use of it in serving others.”
It’s this same commitment to serve others that led them to partner with Punlaan School, a technical-vocational institution for underprivileged women who want to work in the culinary arts and hospitality industry.
Founded in 1975, Punlaan School operates through partnerships with different companies. Conti’s has been a benefactor for over 15 years.
“Since 2006, Conti’s has been sponsoring the education and training of Punlaan students,” notes Punlaan School director Anne Marie “Nanan” Jacinto. “To date, the partnership has produced 88 graduates who have been employed at Conti’s.”
Nanan adds, “Without training, without jobs, then our students would not be alleviated from poverty.”
Angie says Conti’s banks on Punlaan to help with the people they need that suit the company’s required qualifications. “It’s so easy to build a store but the challenge is how to find good people to run the store,” says Angie.
Those qualifications don’t just involve excellence in all aspects of the work. Crucially, it also involves strength of character and uprightness.
“The girls are not only trained intellectually, professionally, and physically, but they develop spiritually as well,” Nanan says.
Heavenly service? That’s the sweet secret ingredient that Conti’s has found in Punlaan and it’s what continues to strengthen the bond between the two institutions.
“When you love God, you do this well,” Angie says. “That’s what we also get from Punlaan. In everything that they do, they try to glorify God. And when you glorify God everything turns out to be perfect.”
The Conti’s-Punlaan partnership has evolved so much that Conti’s is now set to build a bigger school building for Punlaan that would accommodate more students, from the current maximum of 100 per year to as many as 500.
This gives even more young women the opportunity to improve their lot in life for themselves and their families while fulfilling their dreams.
And it’s not just for the benefit of Conti’s. The aim is for Punlaan to be able “to help the entire industry, not only Conti’s but others that are engaged in food service.”
On top of that, Conti’s is also donating state-of-the-art kitchen equipment for Punlaan’s new baking training kitchen and is helping with the ventilation. The upgrade is intended to make Punlaan’s facilities as world-class as Conti’s commissary.
For the Conti sisters, serving others with their best isn’t just something that sounds good – a mindset they live since day one.
To know more about Conti's Bakeshop & Restaurant, visit their website at http://www.contis.ph/ or check out their Facebook (@contisph) and Instagram (@contis_ph) pages. Other pages bearing our name and images are fake. They do not in any way represent the brand.