Philo Chua grew up in a family who exchanged business ideas during dinner. At the time, business for him was just a conversation piece.
It was not until his Entertainment Technology studies in Pittsburgh, the United States that Chua developed a keen interest in baking chocolate-based cookies and brownies. Just as his curiosity on premium food ingredients was developing, a chocolate shop opened near his area to sell single-origin chocolates from around the world.
“This was back in 2007. I was e-mailing a friend about it and talking about how it would be interesting to have chocolates made from Philippine cacao. There’s cacao in the Philippines, but no one at that time was making premium chocolates out of it. While writing that email, the idea started,” Chua said.
Born to entrepreneur parents from Manila, the 44-year-old Chua returned to his roots in the Philippines, with a personal mission—to be a Filipino chocolatier who uses homegrown ingredients.
In his homecoming, Philo sought multiple ways of using chocolate as a main ingredient in food preparation. Significant attention was paid to product development, owing to his passion for understanding product components and their appeal to consumers.
In 2010, Chua launched Theo & Philo, coined from Theobroma Cacao, the scientific name of cacao tree and his name Philo. The brand’s vision is to mainstream Philippine-made artisan chocolates to the global consumers.
The bean-to-bar branding piqued the interest of retailers, aggregators and consumers. His initial capital of P1 million has gone a long way from product development to sourcing ingredients to various methods of processing chocolate, and finally, the production phase. Food bloggers, who noticed the brand, helped in marketing the products online.
Ethnicity as branding
Chua’s idea of using Pinoy cacao clicked, which further buttressed the branding. Using local cacao known for their distinct properties is the most logical idea for producing Theo & Philo chocolate and chocolate-based products.
Theo & Philo manufactures a range of products –from chocolate bars to chocolate-coated mangoes, chocolate-covered nuts, hot chocolate mix and chocolate spreads from its facility in Valenzuela City, Metro Manila.
By the time the company was two years into operation, Theo and Philo was already exporting chocolate products to key markets overseas. The company successfully penetrated the selective markets of Germany and the Netherlands. It also exports to Japan, Taiwan and the US.
Theo & Philo products are sold, mostly, at coffee shops and specialty stores abroad. Locally, they are available at duty-free shops and Philippine heritage stores.
“Our best-selling products are our chocolate bars—in particular, the dark chocolate with green mango and salt, and the dark chocolate with siling labuyo [chili],” Chua said as he recalled his first export to the European Union and how that first shipment required a bit of work to meet a set requirements for a buyer in Germany.
He said product labelling was a challenge for the company, given the EU market’s very stringent policies on labelling and adherence to environmental sustainability. Its distributor to the EU helped the brand with the translation and compliance with labelling standards.
When Chua was just starting to export, his regular engagement with the Center for International Trade Expositions and Missions of the Department of Trade and Industry led him to join the prestigious International Food Exhibition Philippines, which created a network of clients and suppliers who were instrumental to the success of the brand.
Registering with the DTI in 2010 opened doors for Chua, including access to much needed capacity-building like export seminars, which further increased his knowledge about regulations in various countries.
“I have found the DTI seminars an informative source of guidance towards exports,” he said.
European exposure
With Europe as the benchmark for the best chocolates in the world, Theo & Philo is under the impression its acceptance in the European market is “already an endorsement of top quality.”
The company believes that as a bean-to-bar producer of chocolate, its strategy worked wonders in attracting European buyers who are a purist when it comes to product origins and quality.
Theo & Philo exports to Europe under the EU Generalized System of Preference Plus (GSP+) that allows trade under preferential tariff rates. The brand derives 20 percent of its revenue from exports, including 5 percent from the EU.
Throughout his successful export journey, Chua has not forgotten those who helped him establish international recognition for the brand and for the Philippines. The company that began with three employees has become a team of 28 workers who are well-looked after.
With support from ARISE Plus Philippines, Theo & Philo carved a small but discernible niche of recognition for Philippine chocolates in the global market.
“What we offer is pure and affordable and stands apart from chocolates from other countries because of the cacao grown in our country,” Chua said.