Sweet Success

Sweet Success

Folks flip for flans cooked up by NextGen contest finalist

Life is sweet for Princess Diana Rosario. After 14 failed attempts at launching a business, it turns out that the 15th time was the charm. “My husband kept telling me that it’s OK to fail because you only really need one great success,” Rosario says.

With a passion for baking, Rosario is living her dream with her dessert business, What’s Your Flan? The Philippines-based franchise features a creative and beautifully decorated twist on the traditional Spanish custard. “I always liked experimenting, and I tried adding Matcha powder to leche flan. I posted my creation on Facebook and it went viral. Everyone wanted some. Since then I have developed more than 70 flavors and only serve original recipes,” she says.

Flavors run the gamut from exotic, like ube, the vivid purple yam that’s native to the Philippines, to more familiar varieties such as mango and tiramisu. Although colorful and wildly creative, the freshly made, all-natural desserts have no food coloring or preservatives.

The icing on the cake came this February when Rosario competed against thousands of young entrepreneurs from around the world to land a spot in the NextGen in Franchising Global Summit (www.nextgenfranchising.org). She was one of three finalists in the competition held in late February in Las Vegas.

What’s Your Flan? has grown from a single location to 70 throughout the Philippines, one franchise in Dubai, and hundreds of registered resellers—and Rosario plans to expand internationally.

For more information, visit @whatsyourflan on Facebook.

—Jill Abrahamsen