Chizmozza: From a cheese cart idea to a 10-year success story

Since high school, Marydae Hannah Ramos had this dream of starting her own food cart business. She saw it as an easy venture, one that didn’t even require a large amount of capital to start.

Even before this, her childhood was filled with side hustles such as selling tutubi, working as an Avon lady, offering CD burning services, and selling piso-per-lagok drinks to her classmates.

Right after college, Hannah planned to work for three years to save up her own capital. True to her plan, she followed through and resigned from her stable job.

However, since her goal was to open in a mall, she needed additional capital and borrowed from her mother, on the condition that she change her initial pancake concept to something else.

Soon after, she saw a video of mozzarella sticks online, which sparked the idea of introducing a cheese cart concept. Her family immediately believed it would be a hit.

Realizing the ‘cheesy venture’ wasn’t so easy

While Hannah initially saw a food cart as an easier venture, the reality proved far more challenging. She quickly realized that she literally needed to start “from scratch.”

She handled most of the tasks herself in the beginning, including taking photos, formulating recipes, doing graphic design, finding suppliers, hiring crew, costing, and even securing business permits, among many others.

“It was not easy to start without a business background, a mentor, or any guide at all,” Hannah recalls.

The opening of Chizmozza’s first branch was even delayed by five days because Hannah chose not to hire a professional store contractor to save costs. At one point, this setback made her question if the venture was truly meant for her.

“Baka hindi para sa akin to, dapat hindi ko na lang sinubukan,” she recalled. However, in her first week of operations, her products quickly sold out every day.

Over time, she gradually built her own in-house construction team. This helped reduce costs and ensured more efficient store construction.

Facing daily challenges, surviving the biggest one

Being a business owner means facing challenges every day. From deliveries and operations to handling people, there is always something that needs to be solved.

Over time, these challenges became part of the journey. These are the same stories she can now laugh about because of the lessons they taught, but one challenge stood out the most.

At the beginning of 2020, everything was going well for Chizmozza. Then the lockdown hit.

Malls closed, and employees had to stop working. Despite this, Hannah made sure to support her team. She provided cash assistance and released their 13th-month pay early.

As early as the first week of the lockdown, Chizmozza began selling “ready-to-cook” products to gradually restart operations. Hannah personally handled taking orders, repacking products, preparing dips and booking deliveries.

“It was a really tiring process, both physically and mentally, but it kept the business going during one of the most challenging periods I’ve faced as a business owner,” Hannah shares.

As orders slowly increased, her employees were able to return to work one by one.

“I’ll never forget when one of my employees told me they never felt I abandoned them during that time. It meant a lot to me,” she adds.

Staying relevant after 10 years

To stay relevant, the brand continues to refine its recipes and introduce new products. From a simple mozzarella cheese concept, it has grown into a wider range of cheese-based offerings, including unique items such as donut mozzarella and three-cheese popsicles. They also recently launched a bigger “cheese stick” version inspired by a Pinoy favorite.

Beyond the menu, customer service remains a key focus. Chizmozza aims to break the idea that food cart crews are often perceived as unfriendly. She reminds her team to always smile, greet customers, and provide the best service.