Eduardo Buenavista and Mercidita Maipol - Fetalvero led the event at the Marikina Riverparks where Tsoko.Nut Batirol put up a kiosk in the area to serve tsokolate ah, ensaymada and pastries to participants and guests of the second Champion Authentic Sportswear Run.

2006 Miss Earth - Water Cathy Untalan was also present during the event to join the organizers and Tsoko.Nut Batirol in espousing the protection of Marikina River. She spoke to the crowd and encouraged them to join her in the worthy cause.

Other celebrities who attended the event were Johnny Abarrientos of Ginebra San Miguel and Wynne Arboleda of Air21.

Tsoko.Nut Batirol has branches in SM Makati, Walter Mart Pasong Tamo, Dela Rosa Carpark 1, RCBC Plaza and Eastwood Excelsior in Quezon City.

What special gift did Boy Abunda, Tin Tin Bersola – Babao and daughter Anya receive this Christmas? How to mix a marvelous hot cup of chocolate, courtesy of Tsoko.Nut Batirol.

During the special Christmas episode of ABS-CBN's Boy & Kris, the three learned the process first-hand from Joel Patricio, branch manager of one of the branches of the Pinoy tsokolate and coffee shop.

Abunda, Tin-Tin and Anya tried mixing the chocolate the old fashioned way, using the batirol, just like grandma made in days of yore. A sip of the brew made them all exclaim, "Ang sarap!"

They were also excited by the prospect of adding the different flavors and variants of Tsoko.Nut's Tsokolate Batirol aside from plain Tsokolate Ah Batirol, like Tsokolate Ah Sugar-free, Tsokolate Ah with Mani, Tsokolate Ah with Kasuy, Tsokolate Ah with Pinipig and Tsokolate Ah with Gulaman and Cream.

What made their discovery during the show more unforgettable was the taste of the café’s Tablea Cake. They found the 100 percent cacao cake “rich,” delicious and affordable, same with the Tsokolate Ah. Tablea Cake is available in special packaging, ideal as holiday gift and priced for only P90.

Tsoko.Nut Batirol is also known for its Pinoy rice meals, with choice offerings like Relyenong Bangus, Chicken Roll, Pinoy Pork Steak, Callos, Daing na Bangus with Laing, Traditional Ham, Dinuguan and Pata Pinaksiw Lechon. It also has all-time Pinoy favorites like Suman sa Latik, Bibingka with Itlog na Maalat, Espesyal Ensaymada with Quezo de Bola and Suman sa Mangga.

For pasta lovers, it offers Palabok, Spaghetti Jardinera or Aligue and Pandesal with Sardines or Adobo for merienda.

From its original branch in SM Makati, it has grown into a chain with four more branches located at RCBC Plaza at Ayala cor. Buendia, Dela Rosa Carpark 1, Walter Mart Pasong Tamo and Shopwise Sucat.

One Monday afternoon last August, Angel Aquino, Iya Villania and Cheska Garcia had a grand time rediscovering the goodness of Pinoy flavors.

The Us Girls hosts of Studio 23 were taping at Tsoko.Nut Batirol where they did a segment on the tsokolate and coffee shop for an episode on Filipino product discoveries in time for the Buwan ng Wika.

They visited Tsoko.Nut Batirol’s outlets at SM Makati and RCBC Plaza in Makati City to savor food and drinks only Tsoko.Nut can offer.

They enjoyed Tsokolate Ah Batirol, special ensaymada with quezo de bola, bibingka with itlog na pula and kesong puti, suman sa latik and spaghetti alique. Angel was thrilled with the pasta with the crab fat sauce. “Super sarap nito,” Aquino quipped as she forked for another bite.

Teddy Perena, one of the business partners and spokesman of Tsoko.Nut, was interviewed by Angel on what makes Tsoko.Nut different from other coffee shops. Perena stressed that they are proud to say that theirs is a Pinoy shop. They advocate drinking hot tsokolate and coffee that come from the best local sources like the Leyte-Samar cacao, the Kapeng Barako and the Baguio Blend.

“We do our own share in making the Filipino proud of his rich cultural heritage,” explained Perena who has also guested on ANC’s Shop Talk to promote Tsoko.Nut. “We grow, harvest, roast and grind the cacao to form the tablea so we are assured that we get the finest,” added Perena.

“We are also aware that a significant number of our customers are diabetics or are sugar-watchers. So we have sugar-free drink, cake and ensaymada.” He avered.

Other Tsoko.Nut branches are at Dela Rosa Carpark 1, Walter Mart – Makati and Shopwise – Sucat.

Tsoko.Nut Batirol, the goodness of Pinoy flavors, has just opened another branch at Shopwise – Sucat in Paranaque to better serve its growing clientele south of Manila. Together with its four other branches in SM Makati, Walter Mart – Pasong Tamo, Dela Rosa Carpark I – Makati and Fun Ranch in Pasig, it is always ready to serve all-time Filipino favorites for the customers to indulge such as bangus belly with pangat, callos, chicken roll, dinuguan rice meals. They also offer sugar-free chocolate cake, ensaymada with quezo de bola and special bibingka, which one can order in combo with the very popular tsokolate batirol. Another outlet set to open is the RCBC Plaza – Makati branch.

Beat the summer heat with Cool Blends, specially concocted cold drinks from Tsoko.Nut Batirol.

There are slushes with natural ingredients, Iced Cappuccino, Choco Amaretto, Mocha Latte Shake, Cookies ‘n Cream ‘n Coffee, Coffee Hazelnut, Iced Banana Batirol, Banana Spritz, Watermelon Shake, Mango Tango and Tropical Fruit Samba.

Tsoko.Nut Batirol has outlets at SM Makati, Walter Mart – Pasong Tamo, Dela Rosa Carpark I – Makati, Fun Ranch in Pasig, Shopwise Sucat and soon RCBC Plaza in Makati.

March 30, 2007, Friday
The Philippine Star
Product Line C-2

Tsoko.Nut rewards loyal customers

Tsoko.Nut Batirol launched recently Loco about Tsoko!, a loyalty reward system for its regular customers. A P300 single receipt purchase at Tsoko.Nut outlets in SM Makati, Walter Mart - Makati, Dela Rosa Carpark I - Makati and Fun Ranch in Frontera Verde in Pasig entitles a customer to a Loco about Tsoko! card that must be marked with a stamp for every purchase of Tsoko.Nut Batirol products included in the Loco about Tsoko! Offers: Tsokolate Ah with Kasuy, Raisin Bread, Kabayan Ube, Coffee Cake with Sweet Crumble, Spaghetti Jardinera, Spaghetti in Chunky Meat Sauce, Callos with Rice, Chorizong Hubad with Rice, Banana Spritz, Tropical Fruit Samba, Hot Tea and Salabat (Ginger Brew). Upon completion of the 12 stamps, one may avail of the following treats by surrendering his card to any of the Tsoko.Nut branches: Option 1: One Chicken Roll w/ Rice and One Iced Tea; Option 2: One Dinuguan with Puto or Rice and One Rootbeer Float; Option 3: One slice of Black 'n White Cake and One Iced Cappuccino; Option 4: Two Choco Banana Sundae. Special offer ends on April 30. Valid for dine-in and take-out orders.

Marketing a truly Filipino coffee shop

After championing Japanese food in her two previous restaurant ventures, Marian Romano wanted to try something different. Ms. Romano had been instrumental in the success of Japanese fine dining restaurant Tokyo House, and casual dining restaurant chain Kitaro.

But in her 20 years in the restaurant business, her heart longed for what she likes the most - Filipino food. She, however, had difficulty finding a restaurant that offers the best Filipino food in a casual setting.

"We wanted a comfort place where the Pinoy can nourish one's body and soul," Ms. Romano said in an interview. While toying with the idea of having a Filipino restaurant, she noticed the growing popularity of foreign coffee shops that have sprouted in Metro Manila.

She then tried to visit one of these establishments in late 2004, only to come home with the business plan for Tsoko.Nut. "I was talking to my husband about it and said: 'Why should Filipinos adjust their tastes to what these foreign coffee shops offer? How come there isn't any local outlet where the average Filipino can really taste what Filipino tsokolate is at the price that they can afford?' So with my husband's encouragement, I decided to put up Tsoko.Nut," Ms. Romano said.

The mother of three wasted no time, and immediately sent a proposal to the SM Mall management the next day to be allowed to set up her Filipino casual coffee shop that she called Tsoko.Nut Batirol.

"It's spelled Tsoko.Nut and pronounced choco-nut and not choco dot nut. I just added the dot to communicate to the dot-com generation," Ms. Romano said.

She then added the word batirol (the local wooden chocolate stirrer) to remind people that what her restaurant offers is Pinoy tsokolate, as opposed to the hot chocolate being served in foreign coffee shops.

The SM management was impressed with the concept, and in December 2004, it offered a space for Tsoko.Nut at the then newly-renovated SM Makati. The first Tsoko.Nut chocolate shop is on the second floor of the shopping center, near the SM Kultura store, which sells native Filipino products.

Ms. Romano describes the Tsoko.Nut restaurant as a place where people can hang out, like those foreign coffee shops. "But Tsoko.Nut is different since it is truly Filipino, with native touches like rattan chairs, lamps and décor," she said. "The experience we try to evoke here is a homey one, like going home for lunch," she added.

Tsoko.Nut is a reflection of Ms. Romano's commitment to quality. For one, the cocoa beans used for each cup of Pinoy tsokolate is carefully prepared from a tablea (chocolate bar) that is made from the finest cacao beans grown in Leyte.

"The tablea is especially prepared for us. We carefully chose the tablea that we use because that is the heart of our tsokolate. I tried using the prepared tablea available in the market. But the quality is much less than what we have from Leyte," she said.

To pair with the tsokolate, Ms. Romano added bibingka (native rice cake) to the menu. But while other restaurants have chosen the easy route by using store-bought hot cake mixes, she prefers to use the traditional ingredient galapong or ground rice in making bibingka.

"Although galapong is more expensive, we still use it because it makes the bibingka taste so much better," she said. Aside from the tsokolate and bibingka, Ms. Romano decided to add Pinoy comfort meals to the menu. And while technically, Tsoko.Nut is considered a coffee shop, she did not think twice in putting rice meals on the menu when her loyal customers asked for it.

Tsoko.Nut has rice meals with Pinoy favorites like dinuguan, callos, relyenong bangus and Pinoy pork steak - viands that customers have requested. "I think it is very important to listen to customers. They want to help you in your business. That is why they give their comments. So I listen," she said.

Probably due to her experience as a marketing manager for a multinational company before venturing into the food industry, she harnessed this customer feedback system to improve the quality of Tsoko.Nut's offerings.

"I ask them what I should do to improve our food. More often than not, they give me useful advice that has proven to be effective in attracting more customers," she said.

The first Tsoko.Nut outlet in SM Makati was so successful that Ms. Romano was able to open a second outlet in Walter Mart Pasong Tamo, Makati City, in less than a year. Four months later, the third branch located at South Supermarket in Alabang, Muntinlupa, was inaugurated.

Just this January, Ms. Romano opened a fourth shop at Dela Rosa Carpark in Makati. Last month, the fifth outlet was launched in Fun Ranch, Frontera Verde in Pasig City.

"My husband is asking me if we can keep our high quality as we have more branches. I assured him that I would make sure that our customers would not be disappointed," she said.

Ms. Romano joins her employees in waking up as early as 4 a.m. every morning to prepare the food in Tsoko.Nut's commissary in Paranaque. She personally checks all items before they are delivered to the outlets. "I think it is very important to keep the high quality of our food," she said.

But while keeping the quality high, Ms. Romano guarantees that Tsoko.Nut's offerings remain affordable. The shop's bestseller, the tsokolate batirol - bibingka combo costs only P128, already the most expensive item on Tsoko.Nut's menu. "In the end, I want Filipinos to get value for their money. Knowing that makes me feel very successful," she said.