Filipinos had been up in arms after one vlog-style video depicted how the Lola Nena’s workforce truly labored behind the scenes—however why?
Final week, Lola Nena’s posted a video they didn’t understand would deliver them a lot bother: It was a day-in-the-life video displaying co-founder Steffi Santana’s workday, and a pivotal a part of the content material confirmed her having a working lunch with who she mentioned had been fellow members of Lola Nena’s administration. The video has since been deleted from all of Lola Nena’s social media accounts after so many complained about it.
In fact, the uproar was seemingly principally about the truth that Santana selected to have a working lunch. Certain, I can let this explicit righteous fury slide as a result of as a salaried worker who has to work in an workplace, more often than not I would like my lunch breaks to be lunch breaks, even when I can perceive that typically you’ve bought no alternative however to have a working lunch. That’s tremendous.
However there’s one factor that’s actually, actually bizarre: Why do individuals nonetheless assume Lola Nena’s was a small, family-owned, mom-and-pop meals enterprise? And why is it stunning that there’s a whole hierarchy and workforce operating a well-oiled machine behind its branding?
I may even perceive how persons are upset with Santana out of the blue pondering that Lola Nena’s clients can be interested by a day in her work life when clients are merely within the humorous meme content material. Plainly Santana was by no means a daily fixture on the Lola Nena’s account as its “boss” determine, so it’s comprehensible to really feel it was pressured and broke the vibes of the model.
However there’s one factor that’s actually, actually bizarre: Why do individuals nonetheless assume Lola Nena’s was a small, family-owned, mom-and-pop meals enterprise? And why is it stunning that there’s a whole hierarchy and workforce operating a well-oiled machine behind its branding?
Past the anger over working lunches and girlbosses, individuals have additionally been complaining {that a} fast peek behind the curtains of Lola Nena’s to disclose a whole company workforce and a boss operating it broke their phantasm of the bakery being nothing however a small enterprise.
Only a fast recap: Sure, Lola Nena’s is a household enterprise, and it did begin as a humble one again in 2012 when it first offered the household pichi-pichi recipe. The namesake is Santana’s great-grandmother, and extra importantly, it’s been rising since its inception—in truth, it grew a lot that it necessitated a heavy rebranding to make it slicker and extra recognizable.
Immediately, there are round 30 Lola Nena’s branches round Mega Manila, reaching as far north as Bulacan and as far south as Tagaytay. The whole huge community of shops is producing as much as 50,000 donuts a day. There will probably be extra branches and donuts, and I doubt those that had walked out in protest of Santana’s video will make a significant dent within the model’s efficiency.
And if you happen to’re overseeing a community that massive, pushing for fixed enlargement, and producing that many merchandise, you’re now not a mom-and-pop bakery: You’re a full-blown company operation, even when the company isn’t as massive as the highest quick meals chains within the nation. It’s a testomony to how effectively Lola Nena’s had maintained its vibe—effectively, till now—that persons are stunned, however absolutely it’s not unreasonable to assume {that a} model that’s gotten this massive would want much more than a family-based workforce?
The quantity of harm emotions from self-proclaimed former Lola Nena’s followers looks like individuals discovering for the primary time that professional wrestling or love groups aren’t actual life.
The quantity of harm emotions from self-proclaimed former Lola Nena’s followers looks like individuals discovering for the primary time that professional wrestling or love groups aren’t actual life. Whereas Santana’s video might not have been the most effective concept to submit on the official Lola Nena’s account, and possibly the phantasm shouldn’t have been shattered to start with, the truth that there’s a complete company construction behind the corporate mustn’t have been held towards them.
I don’t assume the model cultivating that feel and appear was a deliberate or aware alternative, or else Santana wouldn’t have posted that peek into their interior workings. The model didn’t appear to be banking on the “appeal” of being a mom-and-pop bakery to promote their meals—one would assume that it was truly the meals doing the work for them. Or possibly she had already assumed most already knew that there’s a complete workforce operating the burgeoning Lola Nena’s empire.
But when something, this complete problem—which can blow over anyway since we’ve at all times bought extra urgent issues at hand—is an attention-grabbing look into the psyche of a sure type of Filipino shopper vis-à-vis branding and repute. Institutions and types who wish to hold the patronage of explicit clients and segments must be very cautious in regards to the picture they undertaking, maybe to the purpose of not ruining the present vibes.
Whereas some backlash could also be uncalled for, and when you might not lose a whole lot of gross sales even when the repute is dented, you additionally don’t know which dangerous transfer might be the one which offers irreparable harm. Santana was fast and conscious sufficient to backtrack and acknowledge the dangerous response with an apology, which is at all times the most secure transfer to do when doubtful.
That’s most likely crucial lesson to be taught from this situation, but it surely actually can also be value noting that not all uproar is smart. On this case, I simply don’t assume Lola Nena’s deserved that a lot.
