Tanchan clan ventures into the food business

CEBU, Philippines - The Tanchan clan, one of Cebu’s prominent business families, recently launched its latest venture in the food business industry, the Choobi Choobi native restaurant.

Inspired by a grandfather’s love of food and featuring house specialties handed down from generation to generation, the flagship outlet of Choobi Choobi located at Parkmall Cebu was recently opened last Saturday.

Choobi Choobi owner Constantine Tanchan shared that the name of the restaurant which is often spoken by his grandfather after eating a great meal refers to a Chinese word that loosely translates to “lingaw-lingaw” in Cebuano.

“It is a restaurant that offers good food at reasonable prices, which is what the typical Cebuano wants. We want everyone to experience the joy of eating without having to worry about the price,” he narrated.

Tanchan, who is a foodie himself, studied culinary arts, loves to cook and enjoys his passion to eat.

Choobi Choobi primarily offers Filipino dishes and takes advantage of the family’s own farms to ensure the market with the freshest shrimps, prawns, organic vegetables and free-ranging chickens.

The Tanchan family owns shrimp farms in Pinamungajan, Asturias, and San Carlos City, Negros Occidental. Tanchan cited that these farms produce 100 tons of shrimps every month.

Proud to offer the cheapest shrimp dishes in Cebu, Choobi Choobi offers the “Shrimp in the Bag”, a house specialty which is a one-pound fresh shrimp with a sweet corn on the cob and is priced at P350.

It is available in five different sauces where customers can choose between butter garlic, sautéed in garlic, spicy gata, mild and spicy Choobi sauce, or extra spicy whaaht sauce.

Tanchan also cited another specialty dish, the “Lola Pepang’s Fried Manok Bisdak, his great-grandmother’s recipe that is served at family gatherings until now.

Choobi Choobi’s menu also features new twists to all-time favorites such as the fried adobong kanding, the crispy balbacua and a special stuffed squid.

Other specialties include the Choobipata, belly dancer, okiname tuna belly, okiname tuna panga, grilled pompano and the Choobi house blend iced tea.

According to Tanchan, Choobi Choobi will soon offer lunch value meals for students. Its pork barbecue that is sold at P20 is considered to be the lowest-priced dish in the Choobi Choobi menu.

He noted that they invested P10 million for the renovation of the area to accommodate a seating capacity of 170 persons in the two-storey restaurant.

He added that they plan to convert the second floor to a roofdeck to cater to parties, events and functions.

Tanchan further revealed that they are planning to open in Manila by next year and are eyeing the Mindanao market as well.

He said that if given the chance, they hope to open the second branch of Choobi Choobi at Ayala Center Cebu anytime this year.

“This is our first business venture in the food industry and we are very positive to eventually penetrate the Cebu market,” he stated.

Other businesses of the Tanchan clan are into distribution and hog raising among others. /JOB (FREEMAN)