FOODIES know that the best cakes can be ordered not from commercial bakeshops, but from little home bakeshops run by young moms, where you need to order a day or two in advance and pick up your order yourself. These are specialty cakes with rich fresh ingredients which can give hotels a run for their money.

One such bakeshop is Taza Platito. Owned by Tina Concepcion-Diaz, Taza Platito (which means cup and saucer in Filipino) has been serving up cake orders since 1991 to individuals and corporate clients—caterers and cafes included.

After graduating from Ateneo with a degree in communication arts, Tina realized she didn’t see herself entering the broadcasting industry. But one thing she knew was that she liked baking and cooking. And so she enrolled in courses taught by gurus Sylvia Reynoso Gala, Dorothy Ferreira and Heny Sison. After learning the basics, she went on to experiment and made her own product line. She borrowed P5,000 from her dad to buy ingredients and equipment like baking pans and a handheld mixer, used their oven at home, and opened for business out of the family home.
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Last week, the World Bank released a study called Doing Business 2009. In it, Singapore took the top spot in the rankings on the ease of doing business, New Zealand was 2nd, and the U.S. was 3rd.

Hong Kong was 4th; Japan, 12th; Thailand, 13th; and China 83rd.

The Philippines? 140th.

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Do you have a product you want to sell but don’t have the capital to put up a store? An easy way to make a sale (and test the market) is to go online and put up a virtual store.

That’s right, make cyberspace your mall and set up shop by putting up your own website with your own customized web address or join the many young entrepreneurs doing business via social networking sites like Multiply and photo sharing sites like Picture Trail.

Kaye Catral makes diaper cakes—fancy “cakes” made of diapers, towels and baby essentials that would make good baby shower gifts. She also does towel cakes that are gift items too. At first, Kaye said she was planning to put up a real store, but the overhead alone will make her products expensive. “I decided that putting up an online store site would be a better alternative to a small, starting business like NappyCakes,” says Kaye. Kaye started her Picturetrail site in 2004.

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Putting up and maintaining an office is getting costlier every day. If you have been working out of your home for some time now and are put off by the idea of putting up a brick and mortar office due to cost, a virtual office may be the answer.

Virtual offices have been around for quite some time now in major cities in the world like New York, London and Hong Kong. It’s great for those who don’t need an office full-time but need an office presence. Companies that are downsizing or are just starting up may also benefit from having a virtual office.

Just what is a virtual office? Tina Cuerva, marketing consultant of My Office , a Makati-based company offering virtual office services, says: “A virtual office lets the entrepreneur enjoy the benefits of having a traditional serviced office without having to physically occupy office space. This way, an entrepreneur will still have a professional image without having to spend much on capital.”
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AT THE DANGWA Flower Market, some 50-plus vendors sell an array of fresh cut flowers 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. This market has been there for more than 30 years. Retail buyers and those with floral businesses flock to this market for their floral needs.

Jay Domingo and his wife Gina run a branch of Pat’s Flowers & Supplies in Dangwa. The main outlet located in Quiapo was put up by Gina’s grandmother in the early ‘70s. It still exists today.

As the name suggests, Pat’s Flowers & Supplies does more than just provide flowers: They also make available to flower shops the supplies they need, from pots, ribbons, and other tools of the trade.

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