CEBU CITY – The Chocolate Chamber (TCC), a homegrown shop-cum-cafe owned by the country’s Chocolate Queen Raquel Toquero-Choa, is expanding globally, with plans to enter Singapore early next year.
The Singapore expansion, set for Q1 2024, will be the first for TCC outside of the Philippines. TCC already has branches in Cebu, Bohol, and soon, Metro Manila, Choa told BusinessNewsAsia.
The original plan was to bring the TCC brand along with the Chocolate Chamber Cafe and the Chocolate Chamber Academy to the US but Choa instead decided to try the Singapore market first.
“We want to familiarise the global market first and while Singapore is Asian, it is very international,” Choa, who is president and founder of TCC, stressed. She also cited logistics as one of the reasons why they picked Singapore first.
TCC will occupy a 150-square-meter space in the city-state, offering chocolate products with a Singapore twist.
For instance, the famous puto and sikwate (hot cocoa drink) will not be offered. Instead, the sikwate will be paired with a Singapore counterpart to puto.
Choa said TCC is more on cultural than just a chocolate store. “We are not just selling chocolates, we are selling culture,” she added.
TCC is home to some of the best artisanal chocolates in the country. It offers various cacao-based products such as tablea, cacao de bola, hand-rolled truffles, and hot and cold chocolate drinks. It also sells cakes, cookies, and chocolate-based dishes.
BusinessNewsAsia