Why has Mary Grace opened in Singapore? Family.

MARY GRACE CAFE, a well-loved fixture in the Manila dining scene, has opened its first international branch at 52 Tras Street, Tanjong Pagar in Singapore.

While planning took over a year and there were a series of pop-ups held in the city-state in preparation, the branch officially opened on March 13.

Seating 28 people, the first Singapore Mary Grace Cafe also comes with a central bakery. “In Mary Grace, everything has to be freshly baked. We can’t ship the ensaymadas and cheese rolls to Singapore from Manila. It won’t be freshly baked, so we had to bake them in Singapore,” explained Chiara Dimacali-Hugo, executive director of Mary Grace International, and daughter of Mary Grace’s founder, Mary Grace Dimacali, during a press conference at its branch in Rockwell on March 26.

Singapore also gets a few exclusives not found in the Philippines, such as Salted Egg Ensaymadas, Kaya-Pandan Cheese Rolls, and a Crab Cake Brioche, spinning off the city state’s most famed dishes and ingredients.

Mary Grace Cafe first opened in Serendra, Bonifacio Global City, in 2006, but had already been a home-based bakery in Parañaque 10 years prior. The company is thus celebrating being around 30 years in the business. Locally, she plans to open four more branches this year.

Founder Mrs. Dimacali talked about her feelings about expanding from her home kitchen to another country. “Victorious,” she said in a Q&A session. “Every step of the way — setting up the store, polishing the recipes… was a struggle.

“Everything fell into place,” she said, responding to a question about why they decided to open abroad after 30 years. “It was time.”

Why she hasn’t opened any branches outside Luzon but has in Singapore? The answer is simple — family. “‘Di ba Mary Grace is all about family?” she said. “I have a daughter, her husband, and two children, who live in Singapore.” She said that if she had family in Cebu or Davao, she would have opened there too.

On a serious note, she said, “It’s the doorway to Asia. If we can make it in Singapore, we think we can make it anywhere else in Asia.”

First a homemaker, then a home baker, then at the head of a cozy chain, she talked to BusinessWorld how she did it. “Take your time. Life is an ensaymada.” That meant that an ensaymada takes a longer time to bake than a cake, and she relates that to how she lived and worked. “If you happen to be a mother at a certain point, and you have children: raise your children well. Then everything will be opened unto you — in God’s time.”

“I could not be a businesswoman, and skip my role as a mother. It had to be them first,” she said during the Q&A. “I think it was a family effort. It’s not only me. It’s family.”

In light of the ongoing conflict in the Middle East between the US, Israel, and Iran, which has driven fuel prices up, she explained to BusinessWorld how she plans to navigate around the crisis. “Truthfully, we’re looking at rising prices and the availability of ingredients. Just like COVID, we don’t know what’s out there. But certainly, we’re vigilant; we’re alert. We’ll just cross the bridge when that time comes.” — Joseph L. Garcia