Discovering the venture made of ‘dirty chocolate’

CEBU CITY—Raquel Choa’s childhood experience of picking cacao fruit and pounding cacao seeds before turning them into tablea (blocks of cocoa powder) served as her inspiration in opening a business that promotes culture and heritage.

Her exposure to the hard life in the mountains of Balamban in Northern Cebu made her realize that success is achieved with hard work and perseverance as primary values.

Choa formally opened Ralfe Gourmet in 2010, a venture she entered with her husband Alfred and long-time friend, Edu Pantino.

The name Ralfe is a combination of the names of Raquel and Alfred.

RG supplies hotels in Cebu with pure tablea sourced from cacao seeds from Davao through the Cocoa Foundation of the Philippines Inc. (CocoaPhil).

The product is all natural with no preservative and additive, says Choa, president and co-founder of Ralfe Gourmet.

The company now supplies to Waterfront Cebu City Casino Hotel, Radisson Blu Hotel, Cebu City Marriott Hotel, Marco Polo Plaza Cebu and Mövenpick Cebu Resort and Spa.

Choa and her two younger siblings were entrusted to the care of her maternal grandmother, Lola Guniang.

She was only 7 years old. Her parents separated due to personal differences.

Lola Guniang lives in a mountain barangay in Balamban, northwest of Cebu City.

“We literally have to cross seven rivers to get to Vito Elementary School. It was there that I learned how to make tablea,” she tells SundayBiz.

Up in the mountains, she learned the tricks of tablea-making. Lola Guniang taught her how to sun-dry and roast cacao seeds. She went with her grandmother to the market to sell the finished products.

Growing up she enjoyed hot sikwate (chocolate drink) from the tablea she made with Lola Guniang.

She prepares the drink using the batirol, a clay pot shaped like an urn with a stirring rod used for mixing.

Her parents reconciled when she was 12 and took them to Laguna where Choa went to high school.

Love knocked at her doorstep early. At 16, she got married to Alfred. At 17, she had her first baby.

At 35, Choa has eight children—Michael Ray, Michelle Honey, Anthony, Jonathan, Hanna, Alfredo (AJ), Rose Angelie and John Paul.

She loves to cook and treats her husband, children and friends to a variety of food and sweets.

But there was no hint that she would open a business involving the tablea.

“The tablea part of my life was already buried somewhere in my memory and there was no plan to revive it. I was interested in business but not in tablea,” she confesses.

Local chocolate

In 2006, Choa and Pantino opened a garments business at the Choa’s residence in Mabolo, Cebu City.

In 2007, they opened a small restaurant that serves exotic food.

But the house where their small enterprises were born was burned down in 2008.

Nobody was hurt in the fire but it made Choa revisit her plans for growth.

In 2009, she was helping set up the menu of Carmen Copper for one event in Toledo City. It was this involvement that she met Norma, an Argentinian. Norma’s husband worked at the Carmen Copper.

They developed a friendship until the two decided to do business together. Norma presented Argentina’s olive oil, which she said is one of the world’s best.

Norma asked her: “What do you have in Cebu that you can export to the world?”

Cebu has dried mangoes but Choa thought there is another product that would contribute to Cebu’s status as the source of world-class products.

Then, she remembered the tablea.

Tablea revolution

Choa was unstoppable after that, says friend and business partner, Edu Pantino.

“We started meeting chefs in hotels. They would not believe her at first but she is determined,” says Pantino.

Choa says some of the chefs would call the tablea a “dirty chocolate.”

She took offense at the label but she considered it as a cue to explain what the tablea is.

“I know the process so I can explain it to them. In the end, they respected me. I convinced them and now, I can sell my products,” she says.

RG’s tablea roll is now sold at Rustan’s Supermarket. They also sell quickmelt tablea that requires no boiling.

Up in the pipeline is a chain of kiosks called Tablea Tavern.

With her children helping out in product development, Choa says they have also set up the Tablea Chocolate Patisserie which carries chocolate products such as pralines and chocolate sticks.

Her long-term plan is to be able to source cacao seeds within Cebu.

To realize this, Choa goes back to where it all started.

The company now invests in a 10-hectare cacao plantation in Balamban, the place where Choa learned how to make tablea.