WHAT wonderful things one can do with just bread, butter, and sugar!
Popular Filipino-American comedian Jo Koy made this declaration on Wednesday evening at his show Funny Is Funny at the Mall of Asia Arena in Pasay City, encouraging him to give a shoutout to every Tita of Manila’s favorite cafe and bakeshop, Mary Grace.
“Have you guys had Mary Grace? That shit is amazing! Is she a real person?” asked the 51-year-old Koy (real name Joseph Glenn Herbert), who also promoted his first film, Easter Sunday, which boasts of an all-Filipino cast, and now showing in the country.
He further riffed on the idea saying, “I want to invest. I have money,” asking the cheering audience if the company was open to franchising. “I don’t know why we don’t have it in the States,” he wondered aloud.
Chiara Dimacali-Hugo, marketing director and daughter of Mary Grace Dimacali, the cafe’s founder, told the BusinessMirror, “[The shoutout] came as a wonderful surprise as we certainly did not expect it. In fact, my brother was in the audience…. Suffice it to say that the whole family, including my mom Mary Grace herself, is still in shock—and we mean this in a good way!”
The first store opened in 2002, but prior to that, Dimacali had been selling her baked goods via bazaars.
Whether it was a joke or not regarding his investment, Dimacali-Hugo said, the homegrown, family-led company is taking its time, expanding mainly within the Philippines.
“The US is a horizon we have yet to conquer, but who knows, we might get there sooner than we expect. As my mother would love to say—Let us keep doing what we do best, and let us patiently wait for things to unfold—all in God’s perfect time!”
The company now has 124 stores nationwide, a mix of 69 kiosks and 55 cafes, which offer in-house dining.
From his description of the pastry, which had a cheese filling, Jo Koy most likely ate a cheese roll, one of the popular items on Mary Grace’s menu.
If he was overjoyed with the cheese roll, imagine how over the moon he would be if he was able to taste the cafe’s celebrated classic ensaymada topped with queso de bola (edam cheese)?
Mary Grace is currently offering Manchego cheese-topped ensaymada in lieu of their classic variant, due to a local shortage of edam cheese.
Dimacali-Hugo lamented, “Yes this is a real challenge for us ever since we lost supply a few months ago. We were very concerned and the first thing we thought of were our customers who love the ensaymadas. We’re doing everything we can to get back our queso de bola supply from Holland as soon as possible, as we know some customers prefer this type of cheese over other cheese alternatives.… Hopefully our efforts pay off and our shipment arrives very soon so we can restock our shelves just in time for Christmas!”