If there is an establishment that has become a household name in Bohol when it comes to bakery products, that is always Jojie’s Bakeshop.
The bakeshop founded by the couple Engr. Arnold and Ma. Carmen “Jojie” Labunog, has been providing quality products like bread and pastries to the delight of the Boholano public.
Joije’s Bakeshop is a Bohol-based bakery chain established in 1992. It began as a humble home-based business and has grown to become one of the market leaders in Bohol’s baked goods industries.
Today, Jojie’s Bakeshop has 30 branches located all over Bohol and has diversified to include Jojie’s Pa-lnitang Bol-Anon, Jojie’s Pa-lnitan Central and Estrella Bakery.
IN THE BEGINNING
In 1992, Jojie Labunog and her husband Engr. Arnold Labunog decided to start a small bakery business in their home as a way to supplement their family income. With just one oven and the help of a close family friend who was an experienced baker, they started baking the traditional Filipino bread, pan de sal, in their home in La Paz, Cortes, Bohol, a small barangay about 6 kilometers outside Tagbalaran City.
The couple started with a simple routine. Arnold would assist the baker after
he arrived home from his full time job as a production engineer at an industrial manufacturing plant. Jojie, meanwhile, would have neighbors taste-test the bread. Subsequently, she modified the recipe until the perfect taste and texture were achieved.
At the start, Jojie and Arnold stuck to a budget of 3 kilograms of flour daily and produced only pan de sal, just enough to meet the demands of their local community. They eventually increased production so they can start selling to the rest of the town of Cortes.
When competitors began to sprout, they introduced three more products which would become their signature delicacies in the coming years: cay-cay, otap and dice hopia. They distributed these products along with the bread to school canteens and bus terminals in Tagbilaran City.
Today the V.P. Inting branch houses the main bakery, offices, production area, a display area for cakes and breads, stock room, a cake decorating room and the employee quarters.
The second Jojie’s Bakeshop branch opened at Dao Terminal, Tagbilaran City, Bohol, in 1995.
Unlike the V.P. Inting bakery which catered mostly to families and housewives, the Dao outlet served a new market: commuters coming in and out of the city.
Jojie’s Bakeshop established bakery branches in Bohol with 30 outlets all over the province as of June 2022. From just one baker working out of their home in La Paz, Cortes, in 1995, the team has grown to include almost 300 employees working as office staff, production crew and service staff in the provinces of Bohol and Cebu.
Jojie’s Bakeshop has become synonymous with great quality products at reasonable prices.