Sisters Penk and Shen bake their way to the top

SWEET PATH TO SUCCESS:

- By Aneth Ng-Lim

To label Penk Ching and Shen Ratilla as simply bakers because their home-grown business has been making cakes for nearly four decades is doing these artists an injustice.

After completing their bachelor degrees, the sisters started working in the banking industry but the call of the kitchen beckoned, more strongly to Penk who started enrolling in one baking class after another until finally choosing the baker's hat over corporate attire in 1987. Penk and Shen set up Pastry Bin and by word of mouth alone, grew their baking empire to where it is today.

Their academic credentials are every parent's dream for their children. Penk earned a bachelor's degree in Commerce and an MBA from the University of Santo Tomas (UST) plus a Master in Management Degree from Arthur D. Little Management Education Institute and Postgraduate studies in Economics from Columbia University, both in the United States. Shen graduated with cum laude honors from UST with a degree in Behavioral Science plus an MBA from George Washington University in the US. With all that left brain training, it can be surprising to a bystander how their right brain shines just as brightly, if not more.

Pastry Bin stands tall in a niche industry of wedding cakes, as the sought-after baker for weddings to presidential inaugurations to corporate milestones to the unveiling of an Olympic stadium. Follow the sisters' sweet path to success as they look back at how it all started.

What was the first recipe you baked that got you interested in this sweet path? How did that go?

Shen Ratilla (SR): It was a brownie recipe that we baked in a square pan. It was burnt outside and undercooked inside. I didn't know the basics like how to gauge the oven temperature, and that using the right size of pan is important. What we did was just followed the recipe.