CAGAYAN DE ORO – Cagayan de Oro’s top food entrepreneurs are set to showcase their products on the international stage at IFEX Philippines 2025, themed “Where Global Food Meets Sustainability”.
The 18th edition of this premier trade show, slated for May 22-24 this year at the World Trade Center in Pasay City, serves as a platform for micro, small, and medium enterprises (MSMEs) to expand their market. IFEX attracts global buyers seeking distribution-ready Philippine-made food products.
Last year’s IFEX featured Cagayan de Oro’s food safety-certified spice advocate Shiga, cacao ambassador Seabeth Food Processing (Mang Kiko’s Cacao), 2024 Katha innovation-awardee Bestfriend Goodies, SLERS of chicharon fame, De Oro’s Best Beef and Pork Jerky, and snack-maker Bite Me Up. Building on that success, these brands (with the exception of De Oro’s Best, which is skipping this year’s IFEX) will be joined by Chino’s Deli and Hinam-is Delights, Inc. further highlighting homegrown flavor and locally-sourced ingredients.
Shiga – Showcasing Ethically-sourced Spices
Shiga (Fire Dream Concoctions) brings the fiery tastes of Mindanao in its bottled condiments. Their line includes spicy chili sauces, garlic-onion blends, Palapa (a spiced relish staple in Maranao cuisine), tangy vinegars, and raw honey – all locally and ethically-sourced.
Shiga’s products celebrate native Filipino spices and perpetuate time‑honored recipes without artificial additives. By sourcing chilis and herbs grown in farms and gardens in neighboring municipalities and regions, Shiga upholds sustainable farming practices while exporting a “taste of home” from Cagayan de Oro.
Mang Kiko’s Cacao (Seabeth Food Processing) – Promoting a Sustainable Tsokolate Tradition
Mang Kiko’s artisanal chocolate honors the country’s tsokolate (hot chocolate) heritage and its founder’s father’s tradition of handcrafting tablea (roasted and ground cacao beans molded into tablets, which are boiled in water to make hot chocolate).
Seabeth Food Processing handcrafts its tablea from locally-sourced beans, using small-batch roasting and grinding. Founder Dr. Sandy Sia works directly with Mindanao farmers, paying fair prices for their crops. This farm-to-bar approach not only delivers rich, pure chocolate flavor but also promotes ethical sourcing and sustainable cacao farming. The result is a range of products – from classic tablea to chocolate bars, even tablea ice cream and cacao-infused cocktails. Their chocolate brandy, which they debuted at last year’s IFEX was an instant hit with domestic and international buyers.
SLERS Industries – Taking Jamon and Chicharon to New Heights
Once upon a time, travelers and tourists did not leave Cagayan de Oro without taking home its famous jamon home-cured by some of its oldest families. The Mejia family’s SLERS Industries Inc. has carried on this tradition with its delectably cured meats and its signature chicharon (crispy fried pork rinds).
SLERS’ range of heritage-rich products have become everyday essentials and holiday staples, and shelf-stable pasalubong (homecoming souvenirs and gifts) here and abroad. And the company is showing no signs of slowing down debuting its chorizo bilbao at last year’s IFEX, leaving foodies eagerly awaiting this year’s offerings.
Chino’s Deli – Elevating de Oro’s Meat Processing Heritage
Debuting at this year’s IFEX is Chino’s Deli, a family venture of the Mempin siblings named after nurse-turned-chef Chino. The brand seeks to elevate the meat processing tradition Cagayan de Oro is famous for by fusing European and Filipino flavors, creating a niche in the local market and gaining a foothold in domestic and international tastes.
Their restaurants have gained a cult following, showcasing their meats in hefty, stylized servings that give patrons’ eyes and tastebuds a crash course in how to prepare and serve their artisanally-flavored locally-sourced cuts. Cravings thus generated, they proceed to conquer first Mindanao and now Luzon as they open more and more outlets throughout the country.
Hinam-is Delights, Inc. – Conquering the World One Sweet Tooth at a Time
Hinam-is Delights, Inc., a Cagayan de Oro-based sweets manufacturer, is another newcomer to IFEX but no stranger to gaining a loyal, geography-transcending following.
Best known for its instantly recognizable pyramid yema (a pyramid-shaped twist on the classic Filipino egg-custard treat), Hinam-is also produces its signature pastillas with filling, as well as polvoron, mini pies, fruit bars and other delicious sweets.
The company has successfully blended traditional recipes with modern mechanization, effectively mass producing heritage desserts and conquering palates worldwide.
Bite Me Up – Innovating the Way we Snack
Filipino and indeed Cagayanon hospitality is expressed in food. We always offer snacks to meeting participants, guests dropping by the house, even delivery persons and census enumerators. Bite Me Up Food Corporation taps into this kindly compulsion and kakanin (snack) predilection with its line of ready-to-eat breads and sweet treats that honor the Filipino hospitality and pasalubong spirit.
Known for their Brownie and Cashew Bites, essentially cakes turned into crunchy chips, the company specializes in innovating for longer shelf life and easier munching, scaling up production while preserving local flavors and hygiene standards. They supply hotels and restaurants, tapping local suppliers to bring the local hospitality and snacking culture to the rest of the country and beyond our shores.
Best Friend Goodies – Leading the Way in Ready-to-Eat for Health and Wellness
Bestfriend Goodies (BFG) is the brainchild of homemaker Nenita Tan, who sought to provide her children with healthy but delicious snacks. Originally a maker of pasalubong sweets, BFG pivoted during the pandemic to focus on healthy, ready-to-eat food packs.
The company now produces a variety of meal products (e.g. fortified breads and meal packs for schools and relief programs) and complementary nutritious snacks and drinks, even partnering with the Department of Education (DepEd), local governments, and social welfare agencies address hunger and malnutrition.
A recipient of the Katha Award for ready-to-eat food innovation, BFG continues to scale up and diversity its operations for both commercial success and to make a difference in the country and the world.
LGU and DTI: Enabling MSMEs for Global Reach
The longstanding robust partnership between the Cagayan de Oro Trade and Investment Promotions Center (Oro-TIPC) and the Department of Trade and Industry (DTI) provides a stable launching pad from which these export-ready MSMEs can enter the global market.
Oro-TIPC and DTI work together to prepare MSMEs in terms of product development, production, and certifications, providing mentorship, financing direction, and market testing options, such as through the LGU-DTI-subsidized and private operator-run Ginamâ|OTOP.PH (One-Town-One-Product Philippine Hub) where MSMEs can display and sell their products.
Recently, Oro-TIPC’s Business Development (BD) Division launched the Ginamâ e-commerce website, which promotes MSME products in an online catalogue that features diverse payment and delivery options.
Oro-TIPC and DTI-Misamis Oriental jointly fund MSME participation in the annual IFEX, paying for booth setup and registration with the Center for International Trade Expositions and Missions (CITEM), and providing guidance for selected food safety-certified exhibitors.
Through collaborations such as these with fellow government agencies and private sector partners, Cagayan de Oro puts its best foot forward on the world food stage, showcasing homegrown brands and local supply chains that merge the city’s and the country’s rich culinary heritage with innovations and ethically-sound and environmentally-sustainable practices, aligned with a climate-conscious, socially-inclusive global direction.n
