There’s a cozy corner in Golden Prince Hotel that offers smoothies with all-natural ingredients: no sugar, just vegetable and fruits, and using plant-based milk (soya or almond) by The Green Table.
This was “born,” said Neil Clyde Kho, in March 2020 when Covid-19 was officially declared a pandemic. Neil said his parents advised him “to find work online or go back to corporate work.” Neil was concerned with the plight of his 10 employees in his internet café and convenience store, and so he, with his wife Guada, decided instead “to find an opportunity” for all of them.
“Food is essential to all of us and we were left with farmers challenged in selling their produce as hotels were closed down. So, calling ourselves The Green Table, we addressed the oversupply of farm produce by selling direct to the consumer, selling fruits and veggie boxes, and by selling smoothies online. We were able to survive and we could pay our employees,” said Neil.
It was also an opportunity, he said, to think about food security.
When stores reopened and people started to go out, there was a greater demand for smoothies. The Green Table partnered with Golden Prince Hotel for it to use its commissary in making smoothies.
The Green Table currently offers 21 flavors for its smoothies, each recipe formulated by Coach Tara Cantones, an Australia-based Filipina, ensuring that The Green Table provides the best plant-based smoothies.
It was also during its move to Golden Prince, when The Green Table came up with DIY-smoothie kits, while continuing to sell veggie and fruit boxes.
At the close of 2021, The Green Table (now composed of a Board) saw the need for providing Healthy Made Easy Meals, aside from processed and canned goods.
“We also saw the need to empathize with the local farmers, the need to sell their produce, and so we came up with Utan Bisaya Kit or Food for the Soul,” said Neil. When the group held an Utan Bisaya Food Drive, Cebuano artist Paolo Olvido of Mampor & Me, in collaboration with Jude Gitamondoc of the Kadasig & Bisaya Music Festival, created a song titled “Food for the Soul.”
The “Utan Bisaya” kit contains pre-cut vegetables and The Green Table partnered with nongovernmental organizations and community groups to make these kits available as relief goods for typhoon Odette survivors and other survivors of calamities who usually get only canned and processed foods. For households, the Utan Bisaya kit makes it easy to make soups or salads using the precut, ready-to-cook veggies in the kit.
“The vision of The Green Table Family is to create a better, healthy and happy life for every household,” said Neil.
The Green Table’s mission is “to provide healthy made easy products, accessible and affordable to every household while creating a sustainable business and enabling our local farmers and producers.”
“Our three core pillars are People-Purpose-Prosperity for all,” said Neil.
In line with this, The Green Table Corner in Golden Prince Hotel and in a stall across Gaisano Country Mall, specifically at GQS Plaza, Banilad, sells not just smoothies and smoothie kits but also farm-based products from small entrepreneurs like Bionatural Premium Virgin Coconut Oil from BHMC, Bohol; Healthy Snacks & Peanut Butter from Naturalliving, pure honey from Rockin’ Moms Venture corporation from Dumanjug, RNC Coconut Sweetener, and its own FarmMed pure calamansi.
All in all, The Green Table Family wants to help Cebuanos eat healthy, to help local farmers and to help in the food security of Filipinos nationwide.