Karen's Kitchen is a baking facility that produces fresh, homemade-quality, premium cakes and desserts. Streamlined operations consist of customers placing orders (preferably by phone) for pick up at the Palm Village location.There is no dine-in venue nor a showroom with chillers containing display cakes. At the kitchen, all efforts are focused on producing the best price for the best quality of cakes. Thus, this website serves as the virtual showroom.

HISTORY

Karen’s Kitchen started as a hobby home business for Karen Young, a self-confessed dessert enthusiast. Karen’s older sister, Joy, was an avid baker who baked different goodies every week all their childhood. Having an insatiably sweet tooth, Karen marinated herself in the kitchen gleefully waiting for what would come out of the oven. Inevitably, she learned how to bake and considered the kitchen a playground for fun and creative expression. She sold her first Black Forest Cakes (a recipe handed down by Joy) when she was still in college.

While living abroad, Karen took all kinds of cake decorating classes with Wilton teacher, Frances Salazar. Since then, she continued to pursue her passion for desserts experientially through dessert trips, research, lessons, books, and most of all, endless hours experimenting in her kitchen. It was there that she fine-tuned the recipes that would one day become her bestsellers.

By the mid-90’s, the hobby business grew by word of mouth. After attending the Ventures In Entrepreneurship course at the Asian Institute of Management, Karen moved her kitchen operations to Palm Village, Makati, and set up KEY Specialty Foods in June 2003. By November 2007, it was incorporated as KEY Specialty Foods, Inc.

OUR CORE VALUES Karen’s Kitchen (Key Specialty Foods, Inc. or KSFI) believes:


*Kaizen— in striving for continuous improvement in all aspects of the business whether it is products, people, systems, or service.

*Stewardship— that this company is God’s and that we are merely stewards of everything that He is providing us at this time-our work, talents, abilities, relationships (internal and external)- and therefore strive to do our best in caring well for these.

*Friendly Service— in giving the best, friendly service to our customers.

OUR GOAL

To glorify Christ through our work and for Karen’s Kitchen (KEY Specialty Foods, Inc.) to be a "Dessert Supplier of Choice" in Metro Manila.

OUR EMPLOYEES

Karen’s Kitchen started with just one baking assistant in the 1990’s. As of August 2008, we have thirteen bakers above 18 years of age who go through periodic training in baking and/or cake decorating. All our bakers undergo health screening annually and have up-to-date Health Certificates issued by the Makati City Health Office to ensure that they are fit for Food Service work. We hold ourselves accountable to the Department of Labor and Employment (DOLE)'s rules and regulations 

We thank YOU, our customers, for your patronage which enables us to provide jobs to more people. Each of our employees is able to help their families in their home province in a number of ways such as replacing nipa huts with concrete structures, sending their siblings to school, providing financial aid to their families, investing in their families’ means of livelihood such as bancas for fishing, livestock for raising, grain and fertilizer needs for farming.

LICENSE TO OPERATE

The Karen’s Kitchen facilty is randomly inspected by the Bureau of Food and Drugs Administration (BFAD) for compliance with the Rules and Regulations on technical requirements for approved GMP (General Manufacturing Practices) and Food Safety and Quality Control procedures. It is licensed to operate as a food manufacturing facility of bakery products.

YES, WE ISSUE OFFICIAL RECEIPTS

We are duly registered with the Bureau of Internal Revenue (BIR) and hold ourselves accountable to forward to them all Value Added Taxes paid by our customers for the government's stewardship and accountability.