For Trisha Lacson, the most important ingredient in baking was never butter, flour, or sugar. It’s care.
That instinct—to nurture, to comfort, and to make people feel seen—is the foundation for everything she has built at 50 & Co. Bakery, the beloved Makati commissary known for its empanadas, cakes, ensaymadas, and warm customer service.
How motherhood figures into her baking business
Lacson is a mother to two sons, and she leads the same way many mothers do: with empathy, vigilance, and a self-less willingness to say “yes.”
“I’m a ‘yes’ person,” she laughs. “If it were up to me, we’d be working until 10 p.m. trying to fill orders.”
That generosity has become part of the bakery’s DNA. Customers know they can message her for same-day cakes, last-minute cookies, or a single empanada to sample before committing to a box. If something goes wrong, Lacson willingly refunds orders, replaces products, and takes responsibility quickly. For her, service matters just as much as taste.
“There are many delicious cakes,” she says. “But not everyone can offer that kind of service.”
How 50 & Co. Bakery was untintentionally born
Long before 50 & Co. Bakery established its cult-like following in Manila’s local food scene, baking was something far more personal.
It all started in the Bay Area in the United States, when her youngest child entered primary school and Lacson suddenly found herself with time she had never really had before. Her favorite Filipino pastry was the fluffy ensaymada, but getting one that carried the taste of Manila in California felt close to impossible—so she decided to make it herself.
After months of trial and error, she finally created a version she loved. She gifted batches to friends, who shared them with their own circles, until strangers began placing orders, eventually giving her the confidence to turn it into a full-fledged business.
How baking kept Trisha Lacson in good form
But even then, baking was never just about entrepreneurship. It was also a form of healing.
Lacson lives with systemic lupus, an autoimmune disease that can leave some days manageable and others physically debilitating. She openly speaks about having once fallen into a coma and spending months in the hospital. The road to recovery was long and uncertain, and in that period, baking was more than just mixing ingredients in a bowl and throwing them into a hot oven.
“It was my lupus therapy,” she says.
At home in the U.S., she would spend entire days in pajamas, with music playing in the background, completely immersed in the rhythm of measuring, mixing, kneading, and creating. And since baking demanded her presence, it seemed to quiet everything else.
“There’s something that happens when you bake,” she says. “You’re in the moment. It puts me in a relaxed state, and I can block out everything.”
When the family relocated back to the Philippines during the pandemic, Lacson brought that same energy with her. Quarantined in a hotel, she began baking again—using trays she bought herself, ingredients she sourced, and the hotel oven. It was an unlikely restart, but it worked well enough.
Soon, she opened a small commissary inside her home. Five years later, 50 & Co. Bakery has expanded into a larger production space while managing to retain the intimacy of its origins.
She cares for her team like a mother would
That intimacy comes largely from the way she treats her team.
Many of her staff have been with her since the very beginning. Her longtime assistant, Ning, has worked with Lacson for nearly two decades, and other team members include Ning’s nieces and nephews. So in many ways, the team feels like an extended family.
“If the company does well, so do they,” Lacson says. “That’s how I work.”
Her motherhood shapes how she manages them. She understands when an employee needs to go home to care for their children. She notices exhaustion. She knows quality drops when people are overworked. Rather than chase rapid expansion, she prefers a made-to-order model that allows her to protect standards—and her people.
That same maternal approach extends outward to delivery riders, clients, and even difficult customers. She sees the pressures everyone carries: traffic, rising costs, family obligations, fatigue. If a rider arrives only to have an order canceled, she offers gas money. If a customer is upset, she listens. “At the end of the day, life is hard,” she says. “You have to be empathetic of everybody.”
It’s an outlook shaped by illness, by motherhood, and by experience. But it’s also what makes 50 & Co. Bakery distinct.
Trisha Lacson is in the business of making people happy
Lacson insists that she’s not trying to become the next big bakery empire. She has no dreams of mass production or sacrificing quality for scale. What she wants is simpler—and perhaps harder to achieve.
“This is really what I love to do,” she says. “I want to make people happy.”
At 50 & Co. Bakery, that happiness arrives in pastry boxes and cake slices. But underneath it’s something deeper: a mother’s instinct to feed, care for, and hold people together.
Frequently Asked Questions
50 & Co. Bakery is a Manila-based bakery and commissary known for ensaymadas, empanadas, cakes, cookies, and other comfort pastries.
Trish Lacson is the founder of 50 & Co. Bakery, a Filipino entrepreneur and baker known for her empathetic leadership and handmade pastries.
The bakery is especially known for its ensaymadas, cakes, empanadas, warm customer service, and made-to-order pastries.
50 & Co. Bakery is located at New Solid Building (back entrance), 123 Jupiter Street, Makati City.
