Creations by Chelle: The Rodenas’ Homegrown Family Bakery with Exceptional Pastries

During the earlier days of the COVID-19 pandemic, various food trends kept Filipinos entertained with a number of them going into coffee-making, baking, cooking different viands, and many more. Some of the popular food trends that swept Facebook and What’s Your Ulam, Pare? by storm during the first year of the pandemic were dalgona coffee, sushi bake, and most notably ube cheese pandesal. While some have already gotten past their home-cooking, baking, and barista phase, Rachelle Rodenas of Creations by Chelle was able to transform her baking hobby into a successful home bakery business.

Creations by Chelle is a homegrown online bakery founded in Betterliving, Parañaque by Rachelle Rodenas. Her bakery offers an assortment of pastries and goods such as cakes, pandesal of different flavors, and other sweet treats. Rodenas says their bakery prides itself in guaranteeing each customer that their orders are baked fresh, as all of their products are specially made-to-order. Creations by Chelle’s bestseller is their homemade cheese rolls, a soft pillowy pastry with a flavorful cheese filling and topping. “One thing that makes it a hit is that we use 3 different kinds of cheese!” says Rodenas.

Rodenas recalls how baking has always been her hobby for many years and specialized in making chiffon cakes to compliment her family’s coffee time at home. It was only during the early lockdown in April to May 2020 when she thought about turning her baking hobby into a business. She says, “[During this time] there was a bread shortage in the groceries so I ended up baking my own bread for my family’s consumption. I started off with pandesal, then eventually experimented with cakes, cinnamon rolls, and cookies.” By June 2020, Rodenas was able to officially launch Creations by Chelle on Facebook and Instagram with the help of her daughter, Dimple.

Rodenas recalls her first customers only being from family and friends but eventually gained more traction through word of mouth and from his husband, Carlo’s continuous posting on social media. She says, “We used to only have 2-3 orders per week, but now we go fully baked and sometimes have a waitlist for up to 2 weeks!” Rodenas also says she did not expect her home-baked pastries to be as well-received by customers and gives a special mention to Ate Nimfa and Jen who worked with her tirelessly throughout her bakery fully-booked days.

Rodenas discusses her husband, Carlo’s significant role in helping Creations by Chelle’s expansion, recalling how his constant posting of “tasting videos” on Facebook enticed a lot of customers from his old colleagues in the aviation industry. Rodenas especially thanks to her husband’s continuous support and enthusiasm in helping the business grow, saying his charm was able to garner new customers who eventually became repeat customers as well. Carlo also hands out samples of Creation by Chelle’s cheese rolls along with his business cards just to give more people a taste of the business’s bestselling product. Rodenas says, “He’s Creations by Chelle’s #1 salesperson, and for that, I am truly grateful.”

Creations by Chelle’s journey have also experienced challenges along the way, and Rodenas recalls the times during her business’s experimental baking phase when her pastries’ dough wouldn’t rise, or when she did not achieve her desired texture in mind. She says she was able to master this through constant repetition. She also discusses the importance of finding consistent and reliable suppliers for her business’s required ingredients, noting while other suppliers can offer very competitive pricing, it proved best to stick with quality suppliers in order to ensure the best quality of the pastries.

Rodenas recalls another challenge they had to overcome on their portion sizes, saying “We weren’t sure what portion sizes our customers were willing to purchase, so we kept changing the portions on our menu,” She finally adds, “We overcame this by constantly asking for feedback from our customers and conducting research on brands that carry similar bakes to ours.”

One notable aspect of Creations by Chelle is their participation in social advocacies as well, with Rodenas stating, “It also feels empowering that I am able to use my business to help others, too,” In their first year, Rodenas’ business was able to help out typhoon victims in Rizal by holding a fundraiser event for donations and relief goods. Their business was also able to share pang salu-salo with street children last Christmas, apart from giving out free cheese rolls and water to delivery riders.

In talking about the best part of doing this business, Rodenas remarks, “It’s being able to live out my passion of baking day-to-day,” and adds “My kids also inspire me even more as I can see their effort helping me whenever they have free time. I am a firm believer that family support is very important to propel anything you want to achieve.”

Creations by Chelle is currently planning for expanding to a physical bakeshop soon and is already seeking out prospective locations for their upcoming store. You may visit Creations by Chelle’s social media pages on Facebook and Instagram!