Being likened to Skippy, a well-known imported brand of peanut butter, is perhaps the best kind of endorsement Marjorie Lacap can ever dream to have. Yet she routinely gets it. And that's through word of mouth, with not a single centavo spent on advertisement.
We are talking of her well-regarded Chelsea’s Peanut Butter, a home-made peanut butter that has less sodium and low sugar content and uses premium peanuts. Produced at her family's starkly modern home in Tococ East, it is a product of science and passion for invention.
Lacap is Ma'am Lacap' to batches of Bayambangueño students, for she is a high school physics and chemistry teacher at the Pangasinan State University-Bayambang Campus. And take note, she has a doctorate degree. Because she works in an environment friendly to creative thinking and innovation, peanut butter production took her interest one day until she actually tried manufacturing it at home. With assistance from the Department of Science and Technology and corresponding support from the Food Innovation Center of PSU Bayambang, not to mention her husband, a triathlete who's a dead-ringer for actor Michael de Mesa, she found possibilities with her find, until in 2017, she went full blast on it and actually sold her bottled products out there.
Why the name Chelsea? Well, the idea of turning to peanut butter for livelihood came to Lacap when she was carrying her first child, Chelsea.
Among Lacap's other revelations is that the peanuts are imported
from India and China, because the local supply cannot cope with the demand when production starts. Chelsea Peanut Butter, she adds, is different from the other brands in the market because corn oil is used instead of coconut oil.
"Many customers like the product because it’s not salty, yet not so sweet," she observes. "Also, unlike other brands, Chelsea's Peanut Butter do not settle and harden that much at the bottom."
"As for the oil, we are working on it, so as to minimize it from gathering on the surface." "By the way, we use lecithin as emulsifier," she volunteers.
To date, they have two varieties: regular and chunky. "Some people like their peanut butter chunky," she explains. They also plan to add more variety in their product offerings, like peanut butter cookies and chocolate.
"Many customers like the product because it’s not salty, yet not so sweet," she observes. "Also, unlike other brands, Chelsea's Peanut Butter do not settle and harden that much at the bottom."
"As for the oil, we are working on it, so as to minimize it from gathering on the surface." "By the way, we use lecithin as emulsifier," she volunteers.
To date, they have two varieties: regular and chunky. "Some people like their peanut butter chunky," she explains. They also plan to add more variety in their product offerings, like peanut butter cookies and chocolate.
Why peanut butter and not other products, especially non-food products? Lacap answers, "Because we have observed that the market is active when it comes to food. There is no dormant month or season for food."
"The product was first sold
in Tarlac," she continues. "Now we also deliver in
Bacnotan, La Union."
And how do they promote the product? "We just display them in seminars, coops, etc.," she says. We think that is another way of saying they are letting the quality of the product speak for itself.
Packaged with a classy design, customers are often surprised when they find out that Chelsea Peanut Butter is locally made. The implication is, if it is this good, then it must be imported. But Marjorie Lacap and her family have proven that, with hard work, resourcefulness, dedication, and the right knowledge and technology, locals are capable of crafting excellent products, and excellent products that sell.
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