When sisters Maline Apelo-Flores and Alma Apelo-Manahan started making chocolate kisses, they didn't know it would change their lives forever.

The Diliman campus of the University of the Philippines was originally just a cool new meeting place, but it organically grew into its own household name, not only passed on from generation to generation by students, alumni, and nearby residents, but also for their friends and extended family. , Teachers, and even strangers from cities outside Quezon City.

Suddenly, Chocolate Kiss is no longer just a restaurant; this cozy, private, and unpretentious cafe itself has become a symbol of a close-knit community. It has become an oasis for stressed students and teachers, a paradise for crush lovers, and it is almost the second home for families, couples and friends to celebrate milestones and special occasions on a Kiev chicken and pecan ribs plate.

Even at home, chocolate kisses are a popular staple food-the birthday cake would not be complete without the devil's food cake as the core, or even an extra Dayap cake. Chocolate Kiss provides more than just comfort food-it is a holistic comfort. For many people, this is home.

When Chocolate Kiss announced its abrupt closure in August 2020, people's collective sadness and heartbreak over the unexpected news naturally followed. For the customers, employees, and family behind the beloved brand, it feels like saying goodbye to childhood friends-there is no real goodbye. The blockade made it impossible to pay the last tribute to the OG branch and took away many much-needed closures.

Everyone was caught off guard by the news, but they were also a little relieved, because hehe, at least Chocolate Kiss is still open for takeaway-the devil cake is still within reach! However, a year later, the cafe announced its permanent closure. In August 2021, Chocolate Kiss finally blew the final farewell kiss.

Many people are still shocked-how could such an iconic, successful, and beloved brand... disappear? Considering its loyal fan base and sold-out orders, many people believe that Chocolate Kiss will not be troubled by the pandemic. Maybe this is true. Although it is difficult to accept, all good things must end.

However, Chocolate Kiss is not just a "good thing"-it has become a legacy that many people will remember, not only because of its food, but also because of an inspiring story worth telling. In addition to fame and popularity, Chocolate Kiss is ultimately the bread and butter of a hardworking family-which makes its closure even more difficult to swallow.

Before The Chocolate Kiss opened its first branch on the Diliman campus of the University of the Philippines in 1997, sisters Maline Apelo-Flores and Alma Apelo-Manahan first ran a family cake business, The Chocolate Kiss Home-baked Delights, from their own 25 years in the kitchen.

The sisters' love of baking began in 1970, when they both lived in Jakarta, Indonesia. Since her husband was assigned to work overseas, the Apelo sisters decided to try baking, starting with cakes for the children’s birthday and desserts for family gatherings. Soon, the pair found regular customers in Jakarta's bustling Filipino community. This kept them busy for ten years, until they decided to move back to the Philippines.

In the 1980s, The Chocolate Kiss Home-baked Delights was merged. This is no longer just a hobby, but an official business; Marlene was a full-time accountant at the time, and she opened the kitchen to Alma, who was also her next-door neighbor. From there, the sisters worked flexibly together. The business is doing well, and the sisters were able to build their first baking facility with the financial help of their mother, Irma. The facility was built to accommodate larger cake orders, just in time for the peak season of Christmas.

This two-story facility was built on Emma’s property, just in front of his daughter Alma’s house, and became an extension of Alma’s family kitchen. This became the official headquarters of The Chocolate Kiss Home-Baked Delights. Suddenly, the business became a family.

Maline's daughter, Ina Flores-Pahati, remembers how the Chocolate Kiss headquarters became her “all sorts of gathering places” as a child. She remembers how everyone in the family "does everything we can", which includes testing the taste of food and deciding what to put on the menu. "This is the best job so far!" Ina, who was still a primary school student at the time, told Rappler.

"My brothers and sisters are from UP Academy of Fine Arts, and they are also involved in some design aspects of the business, such as interior design, product packaging, and posters. I learned how to use the cash register and check cash," she said. Little did Ina know that she would eventually oversee the operation of the entire cafe full-time!

It took more than ten years for Chocolate Kiss to obtain their first "commercial breakthrough." In 1996, Maline and Alma, who are known for their baking skills in their circles, received an invitation to bid for the empty coffee shop space in the Ang Bahay ng alumni building of the University of the Philippines Alumni Association (UPAA). "Seeing the size of the space, my mother knew that selling cakes alone was unsustainable. Therefore, the business philosophy was extended to a restaurant," said Ina. The rest is history.

The Apelo sisters are not difficult to make a decision. As UP alumni, Maline and Alma knew intuitively that making a leap in their home cake business would be a good decision. After all, all they humbly want to do is to provide their beloved UP community with a "new dining experience" that can replace the typical school cafeteria.

What was supposed to be just a small cake and coffee shop has become bigger-the family's favorite home-made comfort food is now added to the list, and the sisters' popular baked goods are on the menu. Guests can now also enjoy hearty soups, salads, main dishes, side dishes, pasta, sandwiches, coffee and other desserts.

In the same year, The Chocolate Kiss Home-Baked Delights was renamed The Chocolate Kiss Corporation. On February 1, 1997, The Chocolate Kiss Café began its first day of commercial operations on the second floor of the newly built Ang Bahay ng Alumni Bldg. on the UP Diliman campus in Quezon City.

“When my family opened The Chocolate Kiss Café, we didn’t know that our lives would change. From school (or work, for my sister) straight home, our family suddenly had this point of integration. It's an unplanned extension of our family," Ina said. As successful as local companies, there are still risks in entering unknown business areas. Ina said that the first few weeks were spent in intense anticipation, waiting for customers to walk through the glass door.

"When there are no customers, we will play the soundtrack of "Night Sleep in Seattle" on the CD player, and voila! They will slowly come in soon. I wonder if this is the same as the second track of the album "A Kiss to Build a Dream On "It's about, it works like magic," Ina said. They played that CD every day and their momentum started to increase.

"My mother and aunts pay close attention to the things in the kitchen. They treat the restaurant as if they are entertaining guests in their own home. I think their meticulousness is effective because customers from all backgrounds come and keep coming back," Ina added road.

Soon, the cafe became busier as it began to accommodate more types of groups-coaches at lunch, students celebrating milestones, sweaty joggers when they first started running, seminars and bible study groups, or just a whole afternoon Friends drinking ice tea. Even UP’s popular personalities, sports stars, VIPs, as well as local celebrities, government officials and other public figures are dining. The word of mouth for Chocolate Kiss is fast, organic, and on the rise.

Chocolate Kiss seems to know how to tick the right box, all thanks to a simple and effective food combination, excellent service, a conscious effort to afford it, and the "unpretentious atmosphere" of a place. According to Ina, her mother and aunt paid special attention to always placing flowers and artworks, and even held regular music nights. "They want it to be more gorgeous, but it's never intimidating," she said.

"We also made sure that there won't be any excessive costs that would require us to raise prices. From the beginning, our family wanted to provide food that didn't affect the quality, and if possible, loyal to family recipes; there are no shortcuts or anything," Ina Say. The menu and pricing also take into account the UP teacher and student community.

"In terms of atmosphere, my aunt and mother are real housewives, so they pay great attention to the details of interior design and treat all guests as guests in their own home. They really want to serve and give back to the UP community. Society. All these intentions seem to have worked," she added.

It didn't take long for the UP community to recognize Chocolate Kiss as "part of UP," Ina said, especially because they were very popular from the start. In less than a year after the opening, not only did campus publications and the introduction to freshmen UP, but also Ateneo's and Miriam's mentioned Chocolate Kiss. Newspapers also began to praise it as a "hidden gem" in the Diliman area.

In 2000, The Chocolate Kiss Café opened another branch on the ground floor of the Ang Bahay ng Alumni building.

"As for being'big enough' to open in a new location, we only made another leap after eight years of UP operations," Ina said. In 2005, they opened their first branch on Roces Avenue outside UP. However, their Roces Avenue branch had to be closed in 2014 to make way for another milestone when The Chocolate Kiss opened their first commercial branch in the center of UP town in 2016.

Ina said: "We want to open other local UP and Quezon City shops and restaurants in the student center and the city lawn." Coincidentally, the UPTC branch of Chocolate Kiss is located next to Tapsilog, another UP favorite Rodic. "With the newest branch, The Chocolate Kiss Café [could] share good things with the larger community," Ina added.

The UPTC branch of Chocolate Kiss received a "warm welcome" after it opened on the third floor of a nearby shopping mall; it is located in a strategic location along a high-traffic corridor. However, in 2019, the competition for “strong competition” followed one after another, and the branch had to be closed in May.

Ina said: "Our resources are very poor, so the family decided to focus our energy on the original branch of the'mother'."

The family continues to obtain many franchise rights, but Ina said that the family never intended to "expand in this way" and own multiple branches. They wanted to keep the cafe as it was-the two sisters' moderate business adventures stemmed from a simple passion for baking at home.

No one expected what would happen in a year. When the first lockdown occurred in March 2020, the entire country fell into a coma; including the food and beverage industry. This "new normal" forces small local companies to "transform"-these two terms discourage any troubled business-and quickly learn how to "explore uncharted territory."

"Just as my family's life unexpectedly improved when this cafe opened 23 years ago, I look forward to reaping the best fruits from this pruning," said Ina. During that time, Chocolate Kiss decided to "go back to the roots of [their] baking cakes" and wondered "where that sweet path might lead [them]."

Ina said that they tried to operate a takeaway for a few days, but their efforts did not pay off.

She added: “It’s really difficult (and not cost-effective) to do this, especially when the pandemic starts, the government’s uncertainty and operating guidelines are very unstable.”

From August 2020 to early June 2021, The Chocolate Kiss only offers the best-selling cakes, pastries and selected main dishes. Things are as “stable” as the pandemic allows, but in the end, the price of staying open during unpredictable periods is too high for families. On June 17, Chocolate Kiss baked their last piece of cake.

Ina said this was a decision "to a large extent guided by returning to the roots" and reviewing the financial situation. This cafe has always relied on a large number of orders to maintain operations. The losses that have been incurred since the beginning of the lockdown and the prospect of not being able to operate at full capacity in an uncertain period have prompted difficult decisions.

"We must remember the reason why this restaurant opened in the first place. As mentioned earlier, there is really no intention to expand. It is unplanned to continue for more than 20 years. This is definitely bittersweet, because this business is blessed by all aspects of our family. Huge channels," she added. It took a while for Ina to announce the news publicly because she was still working on the decision.

She wrote in a press release on the website in June: “Although breaking news is difficult, writing it down will bring some ease.”

"Perhaps this is how to see the text on paper makes it more real, as if it is a foregone conclusion, and by doing so, urges people to step out of the sad denial stage and slowly accept even small increments," She wrote. It is also particularly difficult to say goodbye to their staff, who will become their second family many years later.

"This is indeed the hardest part-the people who share the most experience with us part ways. Our employees have been with us during the easy and difficult times. It is because of their contributions that this restaurant can last so long. "she says.

"Only because of the talented team behind Chocolate Kiss can you'share good things' with customers. They are the ones who prepare Kiev chicken and pecan smoked ribs. They serve you cakes and serve your bottomless iced tea. Full of water," Ina said.

Of course, it is not easy to say goodbye to their loyal customers. Customers let their humble restaurant come to life, for which the family will always be grateful.

"We are very grateful to all the customers who have supported The Chocolate Kiss Café over the years. Thank you for gifting our cakes to your teacher, best friend or crush. Thank you for inviting your relatives over, even if they think they drive to Kui Songshi is a field trip," Ina said.

This restaurant means a lot to many people, and Ina knows that Chocolate Kiss has become a safe space—a refuge—for customers looking for reliability, familiarity, and a sense of home. Now their "place of happiness" is gone, and she knows how it feels. She said: "When we can't go back to these places where we once had good memories, we naturally feel sad."

"I realize that there are many definitions of asylum, but somehow the cafe has become a place for them to find comfort. Whether it is in their favorite cakes, or in their favorite dishes, or because that is their relationship with the most. A place where good friends, mentors, colleagues or partners hang out together," Ina said.

"Maybe they found a private space or corner where they like to sit, or just because it is the most convenient place at a certain time. Whatever it is, they find comfort in it." Sometimes, this is the most important thing.

For Ina, nothing was lost, only everything was gained. Considering that she has never had a business background, she brings a lot of her knowledge as an entrepreneur.

"If I can be sure of one thing I have learned, it is that we have to adapt quickly to changes in the market. When our restaurant opened, the Internet had just started and social media didn't even exist-we only had a chat room in 1997." she says. So when the Internet exploded, everything developed faster and Ina had to keep up.

"I must learn to make changes, try more things at a faster rate, be prepared for failure, don't take anything seriously, keep trying, don't give up. Of course, all of these are in a reasonable financial plan. Within range," she added.

Working in a family business also adds to my own difficulties, including a lack of work-life balance. "It's hard not to know when to stop working and how to balance work and family time," Ina said. “When a person is truly focused on the details, it can become very exciting, and before we know it, this is everything the whole family spends time or talks about,” she added.

Don't regret it though, because according to Ina, the best part of working with family is working with people who know and respect each other. For her, it is ideal to work in an environment of mutual trust. Besides, this is just fun!

"Our family shares our love of art and music through the cafe and have a great time. Our walls display the works of local artists and illustrators. These works are rotated by us and purchased by you. When we don’t When playing the CD, we spent a live music night with Da Capo and pianist Rudy Cruz. They are our main musicians and they have been with us since our first year," Ina said.

Your favorite chocolate cake may have disappeared, but for Ina, the memories of the cafe — and its impact on family and customers — will stay here forever.

"Chocolate kisses always make us very happy-a couple who organizes things for a date will be in the same restaurant as the people living on the corner, wearing their pambahay and tsinelas," Ina said. It just means that people feel comfortable and they like it.

"We will miss that in a few hours, the cafe can be quiet and feel like a respite; then in other cases, someone can suddenly sit in front of the piano and serenade everyone in the room, members of the UP Singing Ambassador Just singing a song," she added.

Today, customers are still close to Chocolate Kiss, hoping to miraculously reopen. Sadly, the family currently has no future plans to return. Ina said: "We have been and are moved by all kind words, wonderful anecdotes, good wishes and requests to stay open."

However, in case the "trend changes", Ina said she believes that the family will not deviate from the founder's principles or "reason for existence." It is still the same chocolate kiss that we all know and love, "as a sign of respect for their beginning." We know that the community will wait in vain for another slice of their favorite cake, or another bite of their comfort meal— But now, we wish our families all the best and thank them for their many memories and simple local cafes that can be created for countless families and friends. – Rappler.com

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