BIZ BUZZ: No price increase for Mary Grace, for now
Good news for the growing legion of Mary Grace customers: Prices of its offerings, including the famous cheese roll and ensaymada, will stay where they are for the time being, even if costs are starting to go up amid the raging crisis in the Middle East.
Mary Grace Foods Inc. finance director Raphael Dimacali said they would hold off on any price adjustment for as long as they can, knowing that their customers need as much help as they can during these challenging times.
Not to say, however, that they are not feeling the pinch.
Dimacali shared that logistics costs have gone up significantly, considering that the trucks that they use to deliver their products across their network in Luzon all run on diesel, whose prices shot up from just around P60 a liter before Israel and the United States attacked Iran on Feb. 28 to around P120 today, and poised to climb some more
Like other retailers, Mary Grace is determined to absorb much of the cost increases as they can, and are likewise hoping that the Middle East crisis will be over soon so that petroleum product prices will start going down from unprecedented heights.
But not all is challenging for 30-year-old Mary Grace, which is riding high on the warm reception to its first international branch in Singapore under the baton of Chiara Dimacali-Hugo, executive director of Mary Grace International.
The 28-seater cafe at 52 Tras Street, Tanjong Pagar, which opened last March 13, has drawn a steady stream of guests, of which 40 percent are non-Filipinos who are now enjoying the traditional freshly baked “fluffy” cheese rolls and ensaymada, as well as new items exclusive to the Singapore branch.
These exclusives include the Salted Egg Ensaymada and Kaya Pandan cheese roll.
Given the encouraging reception, the possibility of opening up another branch has emerged, but then Mary Grace is not in a hurry to expand.
As founder Mary Grace Dimacali stressed, all in God’s perfect timing.
