Chitang’s Torta: From Argao to online market

CEBU, Philippines - Chitang's Torta — it's a household name known among people in Argao, Cebu and to many Cebuanos.

For many years, Chitang's Torta business has been very traditional, having only one bakery beside their residence in Argao town, southern Cebu.

Not until an opportunity came when Chitang's Torta took the challenge of going digital to expand its reach to more locals and foreign travelers alike.

Irvin Camello, the son of the late Anecita "Chitang" Camello, has realized how big the digital platform can give to an enterprise in terms of sales and awareness if done in a right way.

Irvin, who now manages their torta business, is one of the 16 graduates of the five-week E-Commerce and Digital Marketing Mentoring Program of the Department of Trade and Industry-Cebu.

In an interview, the 47-year-old native from Argao shared that her mother started their torta business in the 1980s but it was considered informal then, according to Irvin.

Irvin, a graduate of Electronics and Communications Engineering, shared that making torta has been a usual household activity for many families in Argao for many years.

He said that "Argaoanons" usually make tortas a week before the fiesta of the town, which is celebrated every 28th of September.

But torta has become one of Cebu's best known delicacies and Argao's best.

It's popular among the local people, balikbayans and even some foreign visitors.

It was in 2007 when Chitang, her mother, died at the age of 70.

It was also at that time when Irvin decided to continue the business.

Until today, the bakery beside their house still exists, which caters to tourists who pass by Argao. Their bakery also sells other pastries and cacao chocolate.

'IMPROVE'

But since then, Irvin tried to improve the torta's packaging and he even created a logo for the brand to make it more familiar among its buyers.

"Magkabahaw, magkalami," their torta's tagline he shared, which meant that torta becomes more delicious when it's stored longer.

Irvin could sell about 200 pieces of torta per day on regular days or that's around 6,000 pieces in a month.

But when he finally embraced digital marketing, as part of the mentoring program, sales of their torta have increased.

Irvin did some postings on social media particularly Facebook with hopes to increase awareness about their torta, which is sold at P35 and P50 for small and big sizes, respectively.

In December 2016, when he started going online, gross sales of Chitang's Torta rose to P180,000, an increase from P140,000 he had in same month in 2015.

About P30,000 of the total was attributed to online orders with reservations from some balikbayans, he said.

Irvin was thankful that he learned about digital marketing as it gave him the opportunity to further widen his markets.

He even now plans to penetrate local supermarkets hopefully this year while maintaining the brand's digital presence.

"I realized that you need more time in maintaining your online presence. Because you have to respond to the inquiries," he said, looking forward to the many opportunities that the digital platform may bring to the business. (FREEMAN)