Jason Go wanted to be an international music sensation. After seeing a video of Tiesto “standing in a weird cube, jumping, and everyone was dancing to his weird, dark music,” Go told himself that it was exactly what he wanted to be—an electronic dance music star.
He recalls being amazed by how music moved people: “I went through a really serious journey on how I could be the best musician.”
He started working on his dream before he even finished college. After school hours, he would go straight to a club and spin music for a rowdy crowd. Go made the rounds and eventually earned a name in the industry.
This went on for four years. He was having the time of his life. “I was getting famous being a DJ,” he recounts. “I always thought my skill would take me everywhere. Like I didn’t need to do anything else.”
But then came the politics of the business. Jason didn’t drink much and wasn’t fond of staying late either. After playing the music, he left for home.
Apparently, clean living wasn’t working in his favor as he didn’t quite fit the rock star DJ persona his clients expected. And so began slowly the decline of his career, gigs lost to musicians less skilled but in the “party animal” mold.
Reality hurt and forced him to look for new creative avenues.
While trying to figure out his next move (one foot was still in the music scene), he ran into longtime friend Paolo Reyes who had a grand idea of opening a gelato brand. With nothing to lose, he took the chance. One year and a Carpigiani Gelato University diploma later, Manila Creamery was born.
High hopes
In 2014, Filipinos were still big on foreign brands while local ones were under the radar. This sad reality prompted Go to prove a point using his brand—that local products can be at par with imported ones.
“We knew there was a problem in the society that we wanted to change,” he said. “We can’t just be proud about being Pinoy. We have to do something about it. And the best way to create change is to create a brand and raise the bar.” Hence, the slogan: “Made the Manila way.”
He had no clue how to achieve this, but he knew he just had to make good the claim: “I called it out. We wanted to be the standard even if we didn’t know what we were doing. We were counting the eggs before they even hatched. We wanted to be world class, even if we didn’t know how to get there.”
For the 27-year-old who had no experience in running a food business, Manila Creamery was a learning process—even to this day, on the brand’s fourth year.
Go admitted that it’s still an ongoing journey. But Manila Creamery’s slogan has served as reminder of its ultimate goal. The partners revel in this kind of pressure.
“The vision is to make the brand accessible to Filipinos all over the world,” he said. “Our products are traditional but executed differently. We want Filipinos, no matter where they may be, to eat it, feel nostalgic and feel like they’re back home.”
Pursuit of happiness
During his career transition, Go feared that he would never get the satisfaction he got when he played music. “When you know what 99-percent happiness feels, and you’ve reached only 85 percent so far, you question whether or not you would ever reach that space again,” he said.
He got his answer only three years into his gelato business, after graduating from his professional pastry course at Enderun Colleges.
He said: “I’ve been getting invitations to take part in events like Madrid Fusion Manila, and it always took me a while to do my research and development. I didn’t know what I was doing. I wanted to be at the same level as the other participants in the roster. By studying, I know that I can lessen the two weeks of experimentation into a single day. Doing YouTube and self-studying was great, but I could reach only so far and I ended up having so much clutter in my mind.”
Learning, in contrast, got him back in shape—and with the same intense passion as music. “I never would have thought that what I was simply longing for was knowledge.”
Looking forward
Go and Reyes could have easily made everybody’s beloved Italian gelato. But they didn’t.
“Manila Creamery is doing our part for change to be better,” said Go.
It has served them well. The brand’s best-selling variants feature familiar flavors while using quality, homegrown ingredients: tablea lava cake, biko, Benguet coffee, salted egg cheesecake, and mangga at suman.
“Customers have been comparing our gelato to European gelato,” said Go. “A lot of people come in and say that it’s like what they had in Italy. So, in that way, local appreciation has been achieved.”
They still don’t know how to bring Manila Creamery to the world. But they’re confident it will happen. They’re used to counting their eggs before they hatch, anyway. —CONTRIBUTED