Baker on East founder Chino Cruz: “It was never supposed to be about doughnuts”

What exactly makes Baker on East such a viral success? While their doughnuts are surely part of the equation, their unusually personal approach to authenticity and commitment to community-building can’t be dismissed. The brand is a welcome breath of fresh air—cheeky and refreshingly unserious (their strawberry lyche chamomile doughnut is described as “Fruity and floral! Only reclaiming what they called me in high school”), or in Cruz’s words, “fun and creative and full of personality without looking like we’re trying too hard, even though we try really, really hard.” “We just developed something we liked and felt true to us, and I think that must’ve resonated with people,” adds Cruz. “Outside of the focus on fun flavours, we’re all about building community—and I think that’s what really helps set us apart from everyone else. As a queer person, community is inextricable from any of my endeavours.”

Below, we speak with the editor-turned-baker about Baker on East’s unexpected rise to fame, the trials and tribulations of breaking into F&B, and the merits of “being approachable by being ourselves.”

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Congratulations on your new shop! What are the key products you offer at Baker on East, and what is the ethos driving the brand?

I find it fairly difficult to give Baker on East a logline since we’re a lot of things mashed together, but if anything, we’re just a pastry bar dedicated to playing around with flavours from all over the world, and sharing them with our community in a more accessible format. We primarily serve pastries and doughnuts with flavours that aren’t exactly par the course (or at least we hope so), alongside really solid coffee wrapped in a nice space that we think just reflects who we are. And outside of the focus on fun flavours, we’re all about building community—and I think that’s what really helps set us apart from everyone else. As a queer person, community is inextricable from any of my endeavors so it’s been a real pleasure to have partners who get that.

How has Baker on East evolved over the years?

The core of the brand hasn’t really changed over the eight-odd years we’ve been operating. It’s always been about being bright, bold, and unabashed in our exploration of global flavours and ingredients. Over the years, we’ve just matured and honed in on a more concise and accessible way to communicate that bold flavour profile to Manila’s diners, and I like to think that you can really see that in our trajectory.

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What was it like to open your very first brick-and-mortar café/bakery?

It’s pretty surreal, actually. We’d been operating from home for five years when we decided to dive into building the space, so we’re still processing the fact that we actually have a space and that people are actually coming. It was really a matter of growth, and we’d just outgrown our small-scale model. We realised that the only feasible way forward was to build a space, since the customer base and dining scene had fundamentally changed since the pandemic began to settle down. 

I’m very particular about interiors and design (Gio can attest to this), and I was adamant that we work specifically with interior designers because I felt they would ground the build in a specific space and time as opposed to being an abstract idea. So, at the suggestion of some other friends in the industry, we tapped KM Interior Design, and they really ran away with it. We specifically wanted Kaye Llanto and Maybs Uy to develop a look influenced by the industrial and brutalist buildings we’d grown up around without it looking too gimmicky, and I think they really were able to bring those ideas to life while keeping things warm and approachable. It ended up feeling like your cool, kooky friend’s tasteful home, and that’s exactly the kind of vibe we wanted in the end. 

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How do you keep the bakery and menu relevant and updated?

I do consistently and actively try to develop new stuff behind the scenes, sort of trying to meet fun new flavour combinations with what will actually sell in-store, which is a lot harder than it sounds. I do a lot of research, collecting cookbooks and keeping up to date with pastry cooks and bakers from all over—I have personal favourites like Abi Balingit, Stella Parks, and Paola Velez—and I also try to travel as much as I can to keep my references nice and fresh. It’s always different experiencing pastry somewhere in real life versus just reading about it online.

What, to you, is the key to excellent doughnuts?

If I can be frank, I’m actually not that big on doughnuts! I really just started developing them for Gio, and after like a year or two of working on the recipe, I stumbled my way into a doughnut base that met all the touchstones that we personally liked–good texture and balanced flavour. Everyone’s got their preference when it comes to bread and pastries, so I don’t have any particular metric for what makes a doughnut particularly good because I’ve tried lots of different doughnuts all over the place, and they all have something great and different to offer. I just developed our doughnuts to be a great vehicle for flavours above all else, since flavour is really the core of what we do.

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What is your favourite part of the job?

The job is tough, but I truly enjoy that no two days are exactly the same. I have ADHD, so routine is good for my brain, but not quite for my dopamine levels. It’s a constant ride, and it’s always stressful, but I can’t ever say it’s not fun.

What are some of the most important lessons you’ve learned in the business so far?

Jesus, where do I start? (Laughs.) We’ve learned a lot since we’re completely new to this. It’s been a baptism by fire, and it’s truly shocking the sorts of things you have to deal with and manage when you open a proper brick-and-mortar. I studied film in college (long story, don’t ask), so I was fully cognizant of the fact that Murphy’s Law is a real thing, but nothing can really prepare you for the firestorm that is running a shop in real life. I’ve learned to be really patient, to take things a day at a time, that it’s okay to mess up a lot of the time, and most importantly, it’s important not to lose sense of your humanity in the midst of all the mess that is running a business.

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What advice would you give to other young aspiring bakers and entrepreneurs looking to make their foray into Manila’s F&B scene?

I’m going to be honest about this: the business is brutal, and we were incredibly lucky to have had the resources that we had at our disposal when we opened. Naturally, we worked extra hard to get where we are, and we like to think that it was our specific vision for Baker on East that really resonated with people, but no level of grinding and vision is going to get you what you really need to truly start in the business—support.

I think that’s what a lot of people in the industry tend to gloss over when talking about being in F&B, and I just want to be transparent about that. Have you got the drive and the vision to start something? Great, that’s incredible. But going into F&B is a real risk. Blood, sweat, and tears, plus an incredible idea, are never going to truly assure you success. Go into it with courage, but be ready to fail and have a backup plan or an incredible support system to make sure when you crash, you don’t burn.

Why do you think Baker on East has become such a viral success?

Truly, we have no idea. We’ve honestly just done things earnestly, creating a dining experience that felt the most authentic to us. We never really aimed to become famous, or viral, or anything like that—it’s not like we designed a space that was immediately “Instagrammable.” We just developed something we liked and felt true to us, and I think that must’ve resonated with people.

Apart from your quality products, one thing that stands out about Baker on East is its playful, relatable marketing approach. Could you speak more about this strategy?

It’s as much a strategy as it is our core brand value: being approachable by being ourselves. We noticed that a lot of local food brands try to capitalise on authenticity without actually being personal, and we felt that our online presence gave us an opportunity to connect with our customers and build a community by having a distinct voice that no one else in the market could really emulate—our own.

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