CHOCOLATE KISS

The Chocolate Kiss Café serves sumptuous cakes, and offers a menu of comfort food ranging from Filipino favorites to international fares.

Founded by sisters Maline ApeloFlores and Alma Apelo-Manahan, it began as a home-based cake business, “Chocolate Kiss Home-baked Delights” and evolved into a restaurant in 1997 with its first branch in the second floor of Ang Bahay ng Alumni in UP Diliman.

It opened a second outlet in the ground floor of the same building in 2000. And last year, it opened a new branch in UP Town Center’s student hub, Urban Turf, together with other beloved home-grown Quezon Citybased restos and shops.

“The decision to open a branch in UP Town Center, Katipunan Avenue is really to introduce our brand to a bigger market. Although we have been in UP Diliman for 20 years, the reality is that we are still unknown to many people who have no chance to see or walk by our store, which is inside one building inside many buildings, inside the UP campus,” the resto’s owners said.

“We think our concept is a hit because of our focus on what’s familiar and practical. We always try to make our customers feel at home in our café, from the food they will eat (nothing too exotic), to how they can move around (family-friendly ambience),” they added.

Chocolate Kiss’ owners admitted that the market has definitely changed from when they first opened 20 years ago.

Today, customers have higher expectations and standards, and restaurant owners need to keep up with the competition. At the same time, customers now have more developed tastes and preferences.

“In a way, we like it this way, because it also allows us to really focus our efforts on what we know our customers will love,” they added.