Today we’d like to introduce you to Em Enverga.
Hi Em, we’re thrilled to have a chance to learn your story today. So, before we get into specifics, let’s briefly walk us through how you got to where you are today.
Our Mom is an amazing cook and baker, as were her Mom, aunts, and Lolas (Tagalog for grandmother). She grew up watching them bake. They would use newspaper as liners for cakes and ensaimadas (Philippine sweet bread) and a clay oven fashioned by her Lolo (Tagalog for grandfather). She would scrape the stuck-on cake on the newspaper liners, ink and all, and still taste the deliciousness today! She marveled at how perfectly the treats came out every time, inspiring her to learn as well. As her children, five sisters and one brother, we grew up watching her around the kitchen, partaking and indulging. We all learned and were inspired by her love for cooking and baking! We dipped our hands into the catering and bakery business at different moments in our separate lives in the Philippines, Canada, and the US. All with our own stories to tell! We have all always firmly known that the creations that come from our kitchen are special. We are extremely proud of our cooking, as savoring good food is one of the most satisfying experiences. It enhances memory, comforts you, and feeds your soul! For generations, baking has been a reprieve from hard times. Like so many during COVID, Veronica, our middle child, kept baking and experimenting in her home kitchen to keep herself busy during lockdowns. She would lie in bed, sleep, and wake up with ensaimada in her head! Soon, the ensaimada filled all of our bellies and minds. This joy through food seemed too special not to share. I said why not! So, I called my 4 sisters, Vicki, Lorna, Veronica and Rosa and pitched that it was time for us to put our minds and talents together, and NamNam Foods was born. Our mother had given us a gift that hers had given her. Our recipes retain much of our Mom’s touch, handwritten recipes that we all look to repeatedly. Our labels are actually in her handwriting and will be a sweet part of her lasting legacy to NamNam. She has groomed our palate to identify great-tasting food. So many of our happy, loyal clients will attest to it. We each have a specific contribution that has made our small, minority women-owned bakery find a niche in Central Florida and beyond. Our coming together and the meeting of minds has kept us growing in these 3 years since its inception. Our familial ties run through NamNam Foods, which remains central to everything we do.
Alright, let’s dig a little deeper into the story – has it been an easy path overall, and if not, what challenges have you had to overcome?
Ensaimada was very difficult. We had a great product that people still ask about, but it took a lot of work to make in our small kitchens. So, we ventured out of the cottage industry and found that a commercial kitchen was what we needed. We may revisit ensaimada, but we have decided to concentrate on our other products. We all have responsibilities: full-time jobs in high-ranking positions, a commercial real estate business to run, young grandchildren, and families who always come first:). Time is always a challenge, especially for a labor-intensive small business. Keeping our focus on the ultimate goal of being a successful bakery is hard when things get tough. There are times when we want to stop; thankfully, we are never in that place at the same time, so there is always a sister who will keep us going!
We’ve been impressed with NamNam Foods, but for folks who might need to be more familiar, what can you share with them about what you do and what sets you apart?
The taste of everything that comes from our kitchen is what sets us apart. We always hear from our clients that what we create are the best they have ever tasted! We see their eyes grow wide when they sample our baked goods and they always say WOW and how they did not expect how good it is! And that’s why they keep coming back!
Firstly, we are a bakeshop, and our local community is beginning to find us. We have now expanded our menu from our 3 original creations: Heaven in a Box (a lavish combination of medjool dates, walnuts, and korintje cinnamon in a moist buttery cake), Macaroon Delights (a sweet, coconut delight) and Divine Pecan Tarts (a perfectly divine pairing of a sweet bed of buttery goodness and pecans) to cakes like Ube cake,ube Macapuno, Mad for Mango, pandan cake, pandan macapuno, mocha, bittersweet chocolate, and flan cakes. Lola’s Leche Flan and Cassava cake are some of our most sought-after creations. We also make our ice cream: Heaven Sorbetes (our Heaven in a Box in Ice Cream), ube sorbetes, mango, queso, sans rival. We also make various Filipino kakanins (snacks). Secondly, we are a gifting shop for corporate, clinics, and personal needs in Orlando and beyond. Our clientele includes companies who meet regularly with their clients, and their arrival is eagerly awaited partly because of the NamNam treats they bring. We ship beautifully packaged gifts for any occasion to anywhere in the US. Our loyal customers have been giving our NamNam gift boxes every Christmas, which is fast becoming a tradition they look forward to. And that is all because we have the taste that wows!
Please talk to us about happiness and what makes you happy.
We love it when we go to markets that get so busy that there is no time to sit. We exchange banter with our customers, who love every bite of our products, and there are many laughs. Our customers are always amazed at how good our creations taste and will message us to thank us! Our loyal customers, our suki, it is always a joy to talk about them with Mom and the sisters. We get together a lot to make reels for posting on Instagram and to plan and we do get our children to participate, lol. That is always so much fun! We do love to spend time together, togetherness is the best of our mottos!
Pricing:
- Heaven in a Box $40
- Macaroon Delights $25
- NamNam Tower in Festive Wrap $87
- Lola’s Leche Flan $9-$18
- Mini cakes $10-$12 Full cakes available
Contact Info:
- Website: www.namnamfoods.com
- Instagram: @namnamyums
- Facebook: @namnamfoods
Image Credits
Chris Abeleda abeledacreativemedia.com https://www.abeledacreativemedia.com
