20 Jan Kenko Naicha Tea Lounge: The First and Only All-Natural Milk Tea and Beverage Place Fully Home-Grown from Cagayan de Oro City
Taiwanese milk tea or Naicha first came to Cagayan de Oro City around 2010 or 2011 and didn’t really pick up fast steam until around 2012.
While milk tea kiosks began popping around town, some coming from Manila, many Cagayanons remember only one true milk tea outlet that served really delicious and all-natural milk tea, and this was Kenko Naicha.
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Even as the milk tea craze became bigger, people began to see that not all milk tea shops are created equal, and on this note, Kenko Naicha truly stands out.
Kagay-anons normally think that Kenko Naicha Tea Lounge is a foreign company, when in fact it is conceptualized, created, and fully owned by Kagay-anons.
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It is the first home-grown milk tea shop in Cagayan de Oro to introduce pure and healthy milk tea using all-natural products without preservatives and artificial additives.
The Triumvirate Sisters
The Ang sisters, Julia Bettina, Julia Vanessa, and Julia Victoria, all bear a first name from their mother, Julia, co-business owner and who also owns One Yoga Wellness. (We only have pictures of Ms. Bettina Ang and none for the other two since they weren’t present during the interview.) The business was actually discovered by the sisters who loved anything about Japanese culture, especially the tea. Even at a young age the sisters unusually loved drinking tea. Eventually after working in Manila the sisters decided to follow their passion to set up a business focused on tea products. To study on their business concept, the sisters went around Manila, Hong Kong, Shanghai, and Taipei to observe and taste different milk teas.
Ms. Bettina Ang
Bettina graduated from University of the Philippines-Diliman with a degree in Agriculture-Industrial Design. Vanessa graduated from Ateneo de Manila with a degree in Management Engineering. Victoria graduated from University of Asia and the Pacific with a degree in Advertising.
The three sisters do everything from mixing and creating up new drinks, marketing, creating new dishes and foods, and even with the construction and other concepts and ideas. This is probably what makes this sister triumvirate very effective for the business. However, the concepts for most drinks and foods would often come from Julia Vanessa. Advertising, marketing, logos, packaging, and the like would often be the expertise of Julia Betina. Extensive product development often fell on Julia Victoria, being a certified chef.
The first Kenko Naicha opened in 2011, which is now their main branch in Carmen. When they first opened, the idea of milk teas wasn’t even in its infancy in CDO. People ordering milk tea would often first ask what the ingredients were. This trend continued even when a second branch opened at the Robinson’s Center in Limketkai Center. The name is taken from two languages: “Kenko” is Japanese for “health” while “Nai Cha” is Taiwanese for “tea with milk.”
The Milk Tea Experience
Admittedly, even with a vast array of milk tea and other drink choices, the favorite and bestseller always seems to be the Wintermelon and Cantaloupe.
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They also have pasta meals and recently launched a Frappe line that includes strawberry and mocha.
Even while focusing on milk teas and other beverages, Kenko finally launched their only Brewed Coffee using 100% pure local arabica coffee beans.
Kenko Naicha New Line of Products
They also launched their new Banana Muffin with chocolate bits.
All the ingredients for all the Kenko products are either taken from different national suppliers or from foreign suppliers, but are never replaced with artificial alternates. They must all be fresh or organic or both with no preservatives and additives.
New Products
Bevato Egg Rolls
BEVATO Egg rolls is an Asian-inspired product originally from Taiwan. They are completely different from the more popular barquillos.
Also, unlike the Taiwan variants, BEVATO egg rolls are infused with grounded black sesame, Earl Grey Tea, and Japanese Matcha.
The eggs used for these are special hatch eggs only from the Vista Fresh Eggs farm (more on this below). These pasalubong egg rolls are manufactured only from fresh and organic ingredients with no preservatives and artificial ingredients added, hence the somewhat short shelf life. Except This pasalubong product line is now being sold at all Kenko Naicha branches, the Vjandep Store in Bulua, and at their new branch at the Laguindingan Airport.
The foreign sounding BEVATO name is taken from the names of the 3 Ang sisters that own Kenko: Bettina, Vanessa, and Toyang, though the latter is a nickname since her real name is Victoria.
Frozen Brazo is a play on the popular Brazo de Mercedes frozen cakes today being infused with ice cream. However, instead of ice cream, Kenko’s Frozen Brazo uses whole cream made from their special hatch eggs. It is now available only at the Kenko Nai Cha Carmen and Centrio branches.
Special hatch egg is the one on the right. The redder the egg, the healthier.
Special Hatch Eggs are enriched with Beta-carotene, Vitamin E, organic Selenium, and Omega-3. These nutrients aren’t normally found in traditional commercial eggs and have been proven to strengthen the immune system, reduce the risk of breast cancer, high blood pressure, arterial clogging, and high blood sugar levels, and aids in healthier skin. The chickens raised at the Vista Fresh Eggs Farm (also owned by the Ang family), are fed with organic feeds rather than commercial feeds, and so the eggs produced by the chickens have a creamier white and with a deeper orange colored yolk. The Vista Fresh Special Hatch Eggs are available at the Vista Fresh Eggs office at the Carmen branch of Kenko Nai Cha or at One Yoga Wellness.
Kenko Naicha for Today and the Future
Kenko Naicha now has 8 branches, the main one being in Carmen at the first floor of Vista del Rio Building at the corner of Waling-Waling Street and Patag Road (beside SSS). The other branches are in Iligan, Laguindingan Airport, Ayala Centrio Mall, Rustan’s Supermarket (Centrio Mall), SM City Mall, Limketkai Center Mall, and at One Yoga Wellness located at the 2nd floor of the LT Fraternal Building, Apolinar Velez Street corner San Agustin Street.
All Cagayan de Oro and the Iligan Kenko Naicha lounges are centrally owned, but the sisters now have become open for franchising outside CDO. For inquiries on franchising, products, orders, and others, you can visit their office at the second floor, Vista del Rio Building, Patag Road corner Waling-Waling Street, Carmen (beside SSS) or call/text 09175491204 and 09173034377. You can also e-mail them at kenko.naicha@gmail.com, julia.vanessa.ang@gmail.com, and rk@rkfranchise.com.
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