The Malaysian-Filipino Sweet Tooth Demographic
The ethnically diverse people of the Philippines collectively are called Filipinos. The ancestors of the vast majority of the population were of Malay descent and came from the Southeast Asian mainland as well as from what is now Indonesia. Contemporary Filipino society consists of nearly 100 culturally and linguistically distinct ethnic groups. Of these, the largest are the Tagalog of Luzon and the Cebuano of the Visayan Islands, each of which constitutes about one-fifth of the country’s total population. Other prominent groups include the Ilocano of northern Luzon and the Hiligaynon (Ilongo) of the Visayan islands of Panay and Negros, comprising roughly one-tenth of the population each. The Waray-Waray of the islands of Samar and Leyte in the Visayas and the Bicol (Bikol) of the Bicol Peninsula together account for another one-tenth. Filipino mestizos and the Kapampangans (Pampango) of south-central Luzon each make up small proportions of the population.
The Malaysian sweet tooth compared to the Filipino sweet tooth
I Googled "Malaysia sweet tooth" out of curiosity and landed on an article that reveals that Malaysians have the biggest sweet tooth (written by Danial Martinus last January 22, 2021) which reveals this not-so-surprising data from the same site:
The table above by iPrice (and attribution is conveniently placed by the maker) reveals the top three sweet tooth nations. First is Malaysia and not so far away are Singapore and the Philippines. Not surprisingly, the same article also points out that Malaysia has the second biggest prevalence in diabetes. What still shocks me is how Indonesians managed to have a lower sweet tooth of only 3.8% (and Indonesia is where the less-fat doughnut called J.Co comes from).
The same article also posts this interesting information about Asian-made chocolates:
Despite this, Southeast Asia does produce quite a bit of its own chocolate brands, like Choki-Choki, Flat Tops, and Chocnut. Ah, yes, hit me with that wave of nostalgia!
However, it seems that Indonesia is the only country in Southeast Asia that's interested in regional chocolate brands. Choki-Choki is the second most popular chocolate brand in the country. Vietnam, on the other hand, prefers Meiji chocolate (manufactured in Japan) the most.
Similar delicacies between Muslim Mindanao and Malaysia aren't surprising either
What's not too surprising is to find similar desserts in predominantly Muslim regions of Mindanao and Malaysia (a predominantly Muslim country). Reading these 25 Malaysian desserts made me think, "It's really similar to the Philippines!"
A good example is the daral of the Tausugs of the Philippines is close to the kuih dadar of Malaysia. This description would sound very familiar to Filipino coconut lovers:
These beautiful rolled crepes are known as kuih dadar or kuih tayap. They’re flavored with pandan juice and rolled around a filling of grated coconut steeped in palm sugar.
Nowadays, you can find kuih dadar made with artificial coloring but versions colored with pandan leaves are still the best. Not only do they look more natural, but they have that coconut-y, vanilla-like essence that you can only get from pandan.
The Tausug can also be found in Malaysia. Not surprisingly, one of the desserts is even called the kuih bingka ubi kayu (which is probably where the Filipino word bibingka came from) with this description:
Kuih bingka ubi kayu is another Nyonya/Peranakan tea-time favorite made with tapioca, eggs, coconut milk, and pandan leaves. Soft and slightly chewy, it’s a fragrant Malaysian dessert that’s relatively easy to make.
The sweet tooth of both Malaysia and the Philippines may also explain why Tealive succeeded in both countries
By looking at the Malaysian sweet tooth, I'm tempted to look into Southeast Asia's fast-growing brand, Tealive. I already wrote a review on Tealive where I ate at the Ayala Central Bloc branch. Unlike other brands, Tealive is pretty much a Malaysian brand (read here). The marketing is done by Bryan Loo himself according to the Marketing Interactive.
Tealive is expanding into Manila and has appointed Mike Dumaual to lead its operations as GM. The Southeast Asian tea chain said on LinkedIn that Dumaual will be leading the charge on business operations across the Philippines, including store expansion strategy and boosting the Tealive brand to be Philippines’ preferred lifestyle tea brand.
Meanwhile, Dumaual has over 22 years of experience with a focus on marketing and brand management, in the F&B and FMCG sectors with such as Mang Inasal, Jollibee, and Burger King. “I’m truly excited to lead Tealive’s grand entry into the Philippine market, knowing how milk tea-crazy this country is. The ambition is not just to make it a milk tea player but a major and respected F&B lifestyle brand that Filipinos will love," he said.
Bryan Loo (pictured), CEO of Loob Holding, told A+M that the Philippines is its first market entry together with its new private equity partner Creador. "Filipinos are, no doubt, huge lovers of milk tea products in Southeast Asia. Together with Creador's extensive local resources in the Philippines, we decided to enter this market to build the next well-loved homegrown milk tea brand. He said:
Our vision is to expand 30 outlets by the end of 2022 and double our store count every other year.
The beverages and certain food items at Tealive may feed the Filipino sweet tooth more than Taiwan will. A unique beverage in Tealive is the palm sugar series (read here). While logging on to Foodpanda, I don't find it surprising that the palm sugar pearl milk tea is a popular item among Filipinos. The chocolate peanut frappe almost tastes like the Filipino chocolate known as Chocnut. Chocolate beverage drinks also sell fast. My favorite is the chocolate lava. All these would cater to the Filipino sweet tooth, which may be very similar to the Malaysian sweet tooth.
When will Tealive try to explore the Bangsamoro Region? That's why I wrote an article calling for the establishment of Tealive Bangsamoro. I think its latest CEO, Ahmad Fikry Ibrahim, may want to see the opportunity in the Bangsamoro Region. I think Ibrahim himself may not find it too awkward to lead a business research team in Bangsamoro. With the Bangsamoro people being mostly closer to Malaysia, they may have that sweet tooth too. That's one angle I never considered when I wrote about the possible opportunity of Tealive Bangsamoro.
A common market for opportunities because of that sweet tooth?
Mahathir also sees the need to boost economic investments and ties for the benefit of the Philippines, Malaysia’s 4th largest trading partner in the Southeast Asian region, and 15th largest trading partner globally.“The trade between the two countries [is] increasing but they are largely in favor of Malaysia. I believe there is still room for improvement and from my meeting with Mr President, we would encourage private sectors from both countries to explore opportunities of collaboration and venture into new cooperation and investments,” he said.
I would like to encourage readers to support Philippine Senator Robinhood Ferdinand C. Padilla's move for economic charter change (read here). FDI with proper regulations (that is, a free market with the late Lee Kuan Yew's call for free flow of capital with proper restrictions). The abolition of the 60-40 policy or the negative list doesn't mean these companies will not be regulated. This would be the same with Israel's restrictive economy in terms of strict budgetary discipline (read here).
Malaysia would be that model of not promoting protectionism but free trade. I'd like to close with the words of Mohamad from his book A Doctor in the House:
Managing a manufacturing industry is very difficult and there was no substantial industry in Malaysia at that time that we could take our lessons from.
We went for foreign investments because we did not have locals who were willing to take the leap. Locals wanted to stay within their comfort zones. When there is no competition in the mix, it is easy to get away with low quality, bad management, dirty processes and inefficiency.
But in a competitive environment, you must always be on guard. You have to look for ways to improve your product and be more cost-efficient. If you do not, you can be very sure that your competitors will be doing exactly that. Tax protection may provide some comfort but it should not make things too easy and discourage effort. It should certainly not cultivate bad attitudes and habits.”
