NBSH contestants take on the Mercato challenge

Part of the challenges of Gardenia’s Next Big Sandwich Hit, an inter-university sandwich-making and business generation competition, is to test the saleability of the teams’ sandwich creations in the weekend food bazaar, the Midnight Mercato at Bonifacio Global City (BGC), Taguig.

After a grueling qualifying round at their respective schools, the qualifiers were given complimentary stall spacesplus delectable Gardenia breads to whip up probably their most difficult assignment to date—prepare their own version of sandwich recipe that will stand out from the rest and sell it to the discerning regular customers of Mercato.

In the first weekend of the Mercato Challenge, representatives from Polytechnic University of the Philippines and La Consolacion College toiled through the night as the teams vowed to give the hungry crowd their hit sandwich and satisfy their hunger pangs. The second Mercato Challenge was well attended by the qualifiers’ peers from Centro Escolar University, Adamson University, St. Scholastica’s College and University of the East. It was challenging and nerve-wracking at the same time as the students labored hard with their sandwich preparation while attending to the needs and interesting questions of their customers. “It’s really tough moving around the stall, with the pressure, heat and everything else,” exclaimed one of the contestants, “but it’s really exciting, we can learn so much from this experience.”

The contestants’ experience in the Mercato challenge is just the tip of the iceberg as they prepare for a much bigger stage, the “Next Big Sandwich Hit”finale, happening on October 28 during the celebration of Gardenia’s “Happy Bread Day” event, which is in line with the commemoration of World Bread Day this month. Sales in the challenge will be part of the teams’ scores during the Finale round.

Other participating schools like University of Santo Tomas, Our Lady of Fatima University, Philippine Women’s University and Far Eastern University  invade  Mercatol  as well and  let the  crowd enjoy their creative sandwich recipes.

For more details on “The Next Big Sandwich Hit,” visit www.gardenia.com.ph.