Breville taps Pinay barista champ as brand ambassadress

Breville Philippines Food and Beverage (F&B) Business Unit Manager Elijah Marie Cortez-Flores, Breville Philippines Ambassadress Vanessa Maclang Caceres, and IAJWC President Ma. Cristina S. Llamo

While the Philippines actually falls under the “Bean Belt”—an equatorial zone of the biggest coffee-growing countries in the world—it still lags behind the emergence of a revolutionary movement that reshapes the peoples’ connection to a cup of Joe.

Nevertheless, it’s not too late for this nation to firmly establish its own coffee culture, wherein majority, if not the entire populace, have a general knowledge and appreciation of this well-loved drink, coupled with their strong familiarity, exposure and use of available technologies in the market to make a cuppa.

With this in mind, IAJ Wellness Corporation (IAJWC), the exclusive distributor of Breville in the Philippines, has officially signed up multi-awarded barista and famed content creator Vanessa Maclang Caceres as the country’s ambassadress of the leading small kitchen appliances brand from Australia.

Impressed by the rich and mature coffee culture of various countries, IAJWC President Cris Llamo dreams of replicating such trends locally, where Filipinos do not merely drink coffee but dive deep into the art and appreciation of its unique flavors and origins.

“Hence, our partnership is aimed at raising more awareness on coffee culture and appreciation in the country,” she said during their contract signing held recently in Makati City.

“We want to be in the forefront of educating the people about Third Wave Coffee. That’s why we really want Vanessa to become our ambassadress because her vast knowledge of the industry will be of big help to elevate the peoples’ understanding of specialty coffee,” added Elijah Marie Cortez-Flores, Food & Beverage (F&B) Business Unit Manager at Breville Philippines.

Breville Philippines' PR Agency Partner CatPR Head Nadine Tan, Breville Philippines Food and Beverage (F&B) Business Unit Manager Elijah Marie Cortez-Flores, Breville Philippines Ambassadress Vanessa Maclang Caceres, and IAJWC President Ma. Cristina S. Llamo

Being an ambassadress, Ms. V (her online monicker) or Mamita (as fondly called by her colleagues) will mainly help promote the brand’s coffee category, plus other kitchen appliances through her social media contents. With her new role, she will also work closely with the brand in equipping the frontliners, which include promo merchandisers, with the most up-to-date knowledge about specialty coffee in order for them to effectively sell Breville products to customers.

“Transfer of knowledge should not go wrong. We want to make sure that our people who interact with the customers are saying the right things about coffee and how best to enjoy it using Breville products. So it’s important to have somebody like Ms. Vanessa, who's been in the industry for a long time—19 years to be exact. There's a wealth of information and experience that we can learn from her,” Llamo said.

“Through her hands-on training, we also believe that we will be able to foster a deeper appreciation for Breville products, especially the espresso machine category,” Flores added.

Elated by their confidence, Caceres is very thankful of their partnership. She quipped: “I’m happy that they trust me with this partnership. I’m really grateful to train their frontliners and share my knowledge on Third Wave Coffee to other people.”

Breville Philippines started to tap her in March 2023 for Women’s Month using the Breville Bambino Plus. Little did she know that her first encounter with this small espresso machine would make her a firm believer and, eventually, ambassadress of the brand. She said: “It’s not like other similar products, wherein everyone can pull a shot of espresso. No one can do steamed milk that is much better than Breville.”

What Caceres loves about the brand is its innovative wide array of products that do not only address the complications of coffee-making processes, but the whole kitchen concerns as well. Their designs go hand-in-hand with functionalities, befitting the requirement of each client.

Although Breville is positioned as a premium brand, it’s worth the investment given the endless possibilities it can do for the buyers. No wonder it's now Vanessa’s constant kitchen companion.

“It’s really a part of my daily life. Once you have it in your kitchen, you cannot stop using it. That’s why you really get your money’s worth,” she stressed.

Chef Chele Gonzalez: A man of culinary success and the partners that helped make it happen

Press release:

For many renowned chefs, success can be defined in a lot of ways. For Spanish-born Chef Jose Luis “Chele” Gonzalez, true accomplishment comes in the form of landing a place in the acclaimed list of Asia’s 50 Best Restaurants of 2016 for his work at art gallery-cum-fine-dining restaurant Gallery Vask. The culinary destination has also been named as the Best Restaurant in the Philippines.

 

The annual list features a snapshot of the insights of around 1,000 international restaurant industry experts. For this year, Gallery Vask, a fine-dining space that serves modern cuisine inspired by local ingredients, took the 39th spot, and was the sole dining destination from the Philippines to make it to the list.

 

“Landing a spot in Asia’s 50 Best Restaurants, and being the only Philippine-based dining destination at that, is a huge responsibility and motivation for me and my team. It is a recognition for all the hard work we’ve done and it is an opportunity for us to keep growing so we can share the beauty of the Philippines,” Chef Chele explained.

 

From being a DJ to an expatriate chef armed only with his resume and determination, the man has definitely gone a long way ever since he was offered the idea of Gallery Vask by architect and artist Carlo Calma. His hard work definitely paid off when he started gaining interest with his Filipino-Spanish fusion menu that celebrates the historical connection between the two countries.

 

Chef Chele’s gastronomic creations are inspired by the Philippines and the many cultural influences he has collected from his travels around the country. As a true culinary luminary, Chef Chele celebrates the beauty of the Philippines through his cuisine.

 

Chef Chele also prides himself in understanding the ropes of every station in the kitchen. He trained to do starters, meats, fish, and desserts, fueled by the belief that he has to learn everything to work well. This has given him a deep perspective about the kitchen and placed him from a standpoint of a good judge when it comes to culinary appliances. 

 

Among these is iconic Australian brand BREVILLE® which supports him in the Philippines. The brand of kitchen appliances champions innovation and stays at the forefront of research and development. 

 

He is an advocate of BREVILLE®’s products which he personally uses in some of the most important dinners he has hosted. The brand recently supported Gallery Vask’s Kulinarya 3 Cultures 3 Chefs 1 Evening Bridging Cultures through Food open dinner as part of Madrid Fusion Manila, one of the most prestigious gastronomic events in the world.

BREVILLE® also lent a hand on the collaboration between Chef Chele and Chef Gaggan of Thailand-based restaurant “Gaggan” who took the top spot of Asia’s 50 Best 

 

Restaurants twice in a row now. The Gaggan Dinner collaboration was a venue platform wherein the cultures of India, Thailand, Spain and the Philippines were bridged through food. These dinners were in collaboration with “Cross Cultures,” an events platform founded by international journalist and editor Cheryl Tiu, where the premise is that food is one of the most accessible ways of exchanging cultures. 

 

Chef Chele is a good example that while passion, determination, and talent is important, getting support from the right people is essential to success. He had this back in Spain with the many masters he trained with and here in the Philippines with the partners he had found both in business and in the kitchen. 

 

And he is most proud of his partnership with BREVILLE® through Gallery Vask.  “Breville and Gallery Vask share the same values so working hand-in-hand complements both partners. I believe that BREVILLE® has unique, state-of-the-art products that are very good support for a Gallery Vask kind of kitchen. The juicer is one of my favorite equipment because it helped me create my best dishes yet. BREVILLE® has also helped us spread our philosophy through our dinner collaborations with some of the most important chefs of the world.”

 

Being a brand that he uses the most in his kitchen, he values the trust he had given the brand. “As a chef who has been working in a professional kitchen for many years, I can say that the quality of BREVILLE®’s products could be truly trusted. These products are user-friendly and will give us chefs high quality results,” Chef Chele related.

 

BREVILLE® products are distributed in the Philippines by IAJ Wellness Corporation and is available in appliance stores in Metro Manila and select cities nationwide. For more information, visit www.breville.com.ph.

Breville Philippines' Little Chefs Baking Workshop

My nephew Kyle/adopted son is the type of kid who gets easily bored. He hates being idle, so every summer it had become a challenge for me to find something productive for him to do. Be it an activity that is sports related, an arts and craft workshop or practically whatever it is that I may find which might interest him—I usually ask his thoughts whether he liked a particular activity before I sign him up. 

Kyle Madrid tries his hand with Breville product while Stock brothers Patrick and Kendrick looks on.

As a parent, in as much as I wanted to expose him in different activities, for him to find his niche, or those that he truly enjoyed, I respect his right as a child to choose these activities. I do not want to be pushy, so before I sign him up, he has the option to say yes or no.  Just before the summer ended, Kyle signed up for Breville’s Little Chef Baking workshop for kids with Intercontinental Manila’s Executive Chef Alisdair Bletcher, an Australian but Filipino by heart, Pastry Chef Darmo Guevarra, and Assistant Pastry Chef Eliseo Calbay taught the kids how to create cup cakes and Mango crepes. Junior Master Chef Philippines’ semi-finalists, Louis and Miko, also assisted Bletcher and company.

The Breville Aprons for the kids.

Patrick and Kendrick Stock with Krelian Adam Lim.

This was Kyle’s last summer activity. He loved cooking and baking as much as I do. So when we heard about this event, Kyle immediately signed up for this. He had a lot of fun with the other kids. He said he was surprised to see other young boys in this event. But I told Kyle, “ it’s usually the guys who dominate the kitchen professionally although nowadays there are a few girls. I told him men move faster than women, and they could carry heavier loads too.”

Australian Chef Alisdair Bletcher, Intercontinental Hotel Manila's Executive Chef taught the kids the basic in baking.

Former Junior Master Chef  Philippines Louis helped the kids.

I don’t know if it must be because there is an ongoing hype for kids to know cooking and all those kitchen stuff. Junior Master Chef Philippines sure did a great influence on parents to get their kids to cook and work in the kitchen. Seeing the kids having fun, they looked so cute in little white aprons.

Former Junior Master Chef also lend a hand to the participants.

Kyle Madrid and his friends are busy putting finishing touches to their cupcakes. 

A child participant puts some on the molder.

Mango Crepe making for the boys!

More than anything, these kids apart from knowing how to bake and cook with the recipes given, they learned camaraderie, teamwork and how it is to prepare for their own food. When I asked Kyle if he wanted to learn more, he said he did.

Cupcake Rainbow Sprinkle

Mango Crepe

The entire class of Breville Little Chefs

He said he was glad to make new friends like Patrick and Kendrick Stock (sons of my fellow Mommy blogger) and enjoy the company of old friend Krelian Lim (son of my big boss and fellow blogger). “It was a boys-only group and we had proven that boys can work in the kitchen just as girls can,” says Kyle.

The class with Chef Bletcher and the Junior Master Chef kids.

I wish Breville Philippines would again come up with this kind of activity for kids in the future. Maybe they could also invite bloggers like me so we could work hand-in-hand with our kids.  Fellow blogger Charlene Sy, who was there to cover the said event felt a little envious of the kids.  She jokingly said, “I wanted to help and give the kids a hand, but they wouldn’t let me.”

My beloved Kyle with Chef Bletcher of Hotel Intercon.

In the end, Kyle went home with a certificate of participation and an apron to remember the fun he had cooking with other kids. For those interested to pursue kiddie cooking workshops called Kids’ Culinary Class from the Intercontinental Hotel, you can call the Food and beverage Department at 793-7000 local 272.

Purple Plum fairy thanks Breville Philippines, Intercontinental Hotel Manila, and Rustan’s Makati.