Thanks to the continued patronage of customers of one of the well-loved FIlipino restaurant chains in the country, scholars at a vocational culinary arts school for underprivileged young women will soon have a world-class kitchen with state-of-the-art equipment.
Punlaan School, a 42-year-old learning institution, has received a whole range of state-of-the-art baking kitchen equipment as part of Conti’s Bakeshop and Restaurant’s donation for the school’s new 7-storey building in San Juan.
The donation includes ventilation and electricals for the baking kitchen that will be named after the well-loved 25-year-old homegrown food brand founded and owned by the Conti sisters of Batangas.
When it opens in January next year, the new Punlaan school baking kitchen will be able to accommodate as many as 250 students at a time, more than double the capacity of the current kitchen.
“We are very fortunate and grateful for the all-out support of Conti’s for this project, which is the biggest initiative in Punlaan’s history,” said school director Kai Nabatar.
“This expansion will increase the number of beneficiaries of our scholarships and greatly improve the quality of our students,” she added.
Conti’s has been a Punlaan benefactor for more than 20 years now. It started in the ‘90s with financial donations for the scholarships of several students.
The partnership has evolved through the years and now includes a training program at the Conti’s commissary lasting seven months. To date, Conti’s has absorbed close to 100 Punlaan graduates as employees who are now able to help provide for their families.
“As Conti’s grew, the partnership with Punlaan also grew,” Nabatar said. “We have grown together.”
Conti’s president and CEO, Joey Garcia, said that education, women empowerment, and providing opportunities to the underprivileged are some of the core values of the Conti sisters that have found a perfect match in Punlaan.
He said the equipment that Conti’s has donated to the school are the same kind of state-of-the-art equipment used in Conti’s own commissary to produce all of the brand’s high-quality cakes and pastries.
“We are very glad to take the partnership even further with this latest development. We hope that the new baking kitchen will help the young women of Punlaan become excellent professionals when they finish their studies and move into the workforce in the culinary and hospitality industries,” he said.
To know more about Conti’s Bakeshop & Restaurant, visit their website at http://www.contis.ph/ or check out their Facebook (@contisph) and Instagram (@contis_ph) pages.