How a 24-Year-Old in Davao Is Turning Cacao Into a National Export Strategy

The desserts arrived before the pitch. At Ikao Restaurant in Davao City, a Chocolate Cheesecake Frappe sat next to a Choco Matcha Jelly, the latter blending imported Japanese green tea with cacao grown less than an hour away. The spread looked like something from a Tokyo patisserie, but every gram of chocolate came from Philippine soil.

Ethan Kyle Lim, the 24-year-old CEO of Cacao de Davao, calls these "kitchen partnerships." The term sounds modest for what amounts to a supply-chain strategy disguised as a restaurant collaboration. By placing Davao cacao on avant-garde menus, Lim creates demand that flows backward to farmers: higher order volumes mean better farm-gate prices.

The model echoes what craft producers elsewhere have understood for years. In Sofia, Flow Cacao builds its reputation on direct relationships with Latin American cacao farmers and transparent sourcing, turning origin stories into market positioning. Lim is applying the same logic to Philippine origins, except his supply chain starts in his own backyard.

The Numbers Behind the "Cacao Capital"

Davao Region produces between 70 and 80 percent of the Philippines' total cacao output. Davao City alone accounts for 60 percent of that regional figure. The concentration is staggering: roughly 1,500 hectares of farmland, centered in Calinan and expanding into the Paquibato district, supply the majority of a nation's chocolate.

Yet most of this production remains invisible to global consumers. The beans leave as raw commodity, processed elsewhere, branded elsewhere. Lim's strategy attacks this gap directly.

From Farm Sacks to Flight Cabins

The kitchen partnerships were phase one. Phase two looks considerably more ambitious.

Cacao de Davao recently secured a deal to supply tsokolate to Cebu Pacific Air for its in-flight champorado, a traditional chocolate rice porridge. The partnership includes a feature in the airline's in-flight magazine. Every seat on a Cebu Pacific flight becomes, in effect, a marketing platform for Davao's farmers.

The company has also signed a contract with UCC, the multinational coffee chain, to supply powdered chocolate to branches across the country.

"People like Davao chocolate because of the quality. Our process is not ordinary. We follow strict procedures starting from the farm gate."

Ethan Kyle Lim

The high-profile orders are already driving up farm-gate prices for raw beans. This is the mechanism that matters: not charity, not fair-trade certification, but volume demand that makes quality production economically rational for growers.

Chocolate as Conflict Resolution

The expansion into Paquibato district carries a subtext that goes beyond agriculture. The area was once a conflict-prone hinterland. Through the city's "PEACE 911" initiative, cacao farming has become a tool for converting former rebel strongholds into productive agricultural hubs.

It is not a feel-good narrative; it is economic development as security policy. The crops matter because the income matters.

From Tablea to Fifty Products

Cacao de Davao was founded in 2013 by Lim's grandfather as a modest tablea business. Tablea are traditional chocolate tablets, ground from roasted cacao beans, used to make hot chocolate in Filipino households.

Under the younger Lim's leadership, the company now produces nearly 50 products, including infusions with durian, chili, and mint. A 600-square-meter showroom is under construction in Davao City, supported by the Department of Trade and Industry.

"My grandfather always reminded us: without farmers, there is no chocolate."

Ethan Kyle Lim

The company maintains direct-purchase models despite rising production costs.

The Template for Emerging Origins

What makes Lim's approach worth studying is not the scale but the sequence. Kitchen partnerships create visibility and volume. Volume drives farm-gate prices. Higher prices attract better farming practices. Better practices yield higher quality. Higher quality justifies premium positioning. Premium positioning enables international exports.

The 600-square-meter showroom is not vanity; it is infrastructure for the next phase. Airport shelves and international distribution require a physical anchor, a place where buyers can see the operation and verify the story.

"Filipino chocolate deserves a seat at the global table. We aren't just exporting a product. We're sharing the story of Davao's dedication."

Ethan Kyle Lim

The story is the product. The beans are the proof.