Interview with Entrepreneur Lyn Fernando, Owner of Frosted Desserts

Hurray! This is the first of the many interviews with successful entrepreneurs that I will share with you. This year, I plan to help those who want to become successful entrepreneurs achieve their goals. How do I plan to help? Well, aside from the workshops that I arrange under ManilaWorkshops.com (please subscribe to our newsletters, by the way, if you still haven’t), I plan to interview successful entrepreneurs in both my blogs, MommyGinger.com and here in ManilaReviews.com. I have started interviewing mompreneurs since January for MommyGinger.com. Now, I think it is time to start interviewing entrepreneurs for Manila Reviews.

Today, I’m happy to to have had interviewed Lyn Fernando. She is the owner of Frosted Desserts. She sells cupcakes, cakes, cookies, muffins, sundaes, milkshakes and soon to be added to her list, comfort meals. You know that I’m a food lover, so it has been a always a pleasure to interview the people behind food businesses.

Interview with Lyn Fernando, Owner of Frosted Desserts

Lyn has always been a food lover and an entrepreneur, but this is the first time that she has combined these two facets. Her taste in food is quite varied, but nothing warms her to the core like a meal that’s made with pride and love. It doesn’t matter who made it.

The King from Frosted Desserts

Ginger: What is your business and can you tell us more about it?

Lyn: Frosted Desserts is an expression of my love for food. I decided to start with desserts (cupcakes in particular), because it is where my opportunities led at the time. I noticed that the market was saturated with cupcakes, but none of which I tasted with my friends were exceptional. In fact, some were even over-priced for the quality of their goods; not to mention, they were all offering the same flavors. When I started Frosted, I had one motivation in mind: to offer the market the difference between money-driven cupcakes and quality-driven ones.

The Escape from Frosted Desserts

Ginger: What makes your products different from your competitors? What is your unique selling proposition?

Lyn: What makes Frosted Desserts different is we are the difference. My team and I believe that our products speak for themselves because when our customers look at our desserts, they see that we don’t offer the same products as everyone else. More importantly, once they have taken a bite, they know they’re not getting cheated.

Frosted Desserts products are created with the credos of great taste and quality. When we craft our recipes, we gather only superior ingredients to test the them. We tweak and taste many times over before we decide that the product is ready for the display case.

Last but not least, we focus more on our product and customers, not the hoopla. We deliberately chose the most basic miscellaneous factors because it’s our products, not the packaging or the hype, that should communicate our value.

S’mores from Frosted Desserts

Ginger: How did you come up with this idea? What made you decide to start this kind of business?

Lyn: Honestly, I wouldn’t have started this without the encouragement from my partner and friends. They were the first who had faith in me, and this strengthened my conviction to begin the business.

Ginger: Who is your market?

Lyn: I don’t want to get too technical about this, so I’m going to say anyone and everyone who has a knack for creative and good quality desserts.

Ginger: Do you need to have great cooking/baking skills for this type of business?

Lyn: A skill is definitely an advantage, but what I’ve noticed throughout my years as an entrepreneur is it’s not enough. There are times that the right attitude and mindset gets you further than skill.

Ginger: What do you enjoy about your business?

Lyn: This is a tough question because I truly enjoy getting creative with food. However, nothing fills up my fulfillment meter like a satisfied and happy customer. It may be worse than a cliché, but nothing describes the feeling that you’ve achieved your objective AND your purpose.

Another perk of the job is recipe-testing. Never mind thinking outside the box. There is no box!

Ginger: I like that! haha! What would you advise people who want to get into this industry?

Lyn: If you’re getting into it for the money, don’t even dabble. It’s a really tough business. Sometimes faith is the only thing that will keep you going. Another advise is get yourself an unlimited supply of patience.

Ginger: I think every entrepreneur goes through challenges. Were there any obstacles that you faced when you decided to pursue becoming an entrepreneur? What are these?

Lyn: There were a lot, but one of the major ones was capital. I had more than enough drive, but not much capital for the resources needed to begin properly.

Another one, and this is still something we’re working on, was communication. Telling our market that we’re not just another cupcake shop was, and still is, quite challenging.

Ginger: What are three traits that you think an entrepreneur should have when starting their own business?

Lyn: Most would start with passion, but this is already an obvious one. So aside from this, I think the most important traits are confidence, patience, and perseverance. Since Entrepreneurship is not a job that you begin at 9 am and forget at 5 pm, a fast burn-out is very likely to happen. The other three traits will help business owners to keep pushing through obstacles that seem insurmountable.

Ginger: Any unforgettable lesson that you learned as an Entrepreneur?

Lyn: Never marry your business. Success doesn’t happen overnight.

Ginger: What advice can you give to other Entrepreneurs?

Lyn: Most think that if you really want it, passion will make up for everything. This is true in some cases, but nothing beats preparation. You can start pinning your overnight success on that vision board, but if you’re not prepared or well-informed in your line of business there is not enough capital that can save you. The best advice I’ve gotten is from my dad: plan for everything – the good, the bad and the downright ugly.

Ginger: For those who are interested in buying your products from Frosted Desserts, how much are the pastries?

Lyn: The price range of our cupcakes is P50 – P80 each, cookies are P40, muffins are P65, milkshakes are P120, and sundaes range from P120 – P130.

Ginger: Thank you, Lyn, for the wonderful insights! :) I’m sure a lot of those who want to start a food business learned a lot from you today :)

Frosted Desserts Contact information:
a. Email address – [email protected]
b. Mobile Number – 0926-7397377
c. Facebook Page – www.facebook.com/frosteddessertsph
d. Twitter and Instagram – @frostedph

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