HOMEGROWN Manila Chocolatier is now available at select Kultura Filipino stores, bringing its world-class confectionery brand that boasts of authentic local flavors closer to Filipinos.
“Our chocolates bring you on a special journey,” said Raul D. Matias, chief executive officer of Latitude Twelve Chocolate Corp. “A journey that starts with your first bite.”
Last week’s official launch of Manila Chocolatier as the newest member of micro, small and medium enterprises supported by The SM Store-affiliated retail outlet was like a long travel he endured just to reach its current status.
In 2005, Matias started his own chocolate business in New York, with his erstwhile Machiavelli Chocolatier. Interestingly enough, while he was abroad, his love for all things Filipino prompted him to go back home and set up a local brand on his own.
“When I moved out and found myself in a foreign land, it was only then when I fully appreciated what it was to be a Filipino. I remembered idyllic afternoons in the farm and carabaos toiling the rice fields. I thought of women in their graceful ternos and men dashing in their barong tagalogs. I missed the sound of Philippine jeepneys, the enchanting lights of Metro Manila, the perfect sunsets and lazy days. I missed the way my countrymen smiled not just with their lips, but also with their eyes, smiles that genuinely come from the heart,” Matias recalled.
Machiavelli Manila, which also offers Pinoy flavors, started upon his return in 2014. It was carried by a posh department store. Prior to this, however, Matias collaborated with the Department of Tourism for the launch of “It’s More Fun in the Philippines” campaign in 2012.
Given the foreign name of his products, though, he decided to create another brand after Manila, which initially was not available in the mainstream market. It was only last year, however, when he finally sourced cacao beans from select farms in the Davao region that Manila Chocolatier came into being.
Matias is proud that “we used only the best cacao beans; the same beans exported to Europe and used by world-class European chocolate companies.” These are beans ground to silky perfection only when needed in the same facility where their products are processed, assuring the freshness of the products.
Apparently, his passion and love for his country, are translated into every flavor of Manila Chocolatier chocolates. Its mouthwatering Chocolate Pralines provides a delicate sublime flavors of the Philippine Islands, from bukayo, panotsa caramel, leche flan, buko pandan and Palawan honey to barako coffee and lambanog—each with design element that reflects the FIlipino culture.
Such locally branded confectionary, likewise, offers delectable white chocolate bars in calamansi and ube flavors; mango milk chocolate bars; dark chocolate bars in pili nut, barako coffeee and coconut flavors. Completing the product lines is a variant made out of chocolate covered pili nuts.
“The uniqueness of my flavors, the types of recipe that I make and the types of cacao that I use” are the attributes that separate Manila Chocolatier from the competition, Matias told the BusinessMirror in an interview during their launch event.
Being a professional chocolatier, who is well-trained in Europe, the United States and Canada, makes him a standout to offer not only chocolate bars, but also pralines that most of his counterparts do not have.
“So that’s my edge, and having had a medical background, it helped me a lot on how to make recipes. Because making chocolate is a science, it helped me a lot on how to make a recipe that is safe, with minimal or no preservatives at all,” he stressed.
Image credits: Nonoy Lacza