It is perhaps the rare business venture in which a chef’s biggest critic turned out to be his own appetite.
Filipino chef Gerick Manalo knows how to make vegetables taste good. Getting himself to eat them regularly, however, has been another matter. That personal contradiction has now grown into a business venture, with Manalo betting that other busy consumers might welcome an easier, more palatable way to get their greens.
His company, EarthLab & Co., has introduced 21 Greens + Antioxidants Power Blend, a powdered drink combining vegetables, fruits, antioxidant-rich ingredients and probiotics. Developed over more than two years of ingredient sourcing, formulation and testing, the product targets people whose demanding schedules or inconsistent eating habits leave them short on vegetables.
The idea came from Manalo’s own eating habits, which apparently did not always live up to his professional expertise.
“As a chef, I could tell you exactly what a balanced plate should look like, how to prepare vegetables, and even make them taste good for other people,” he said. “But when it came to my own plate, I was the one avoiding them.”
His first attempts at making vegetable-based drinks were hardly encouraging. Taste was a problem, and Manalo knew that asking consumers to routinely drink something they did not enjoy was a recipe for failure.
“For me, taste was non-negotiable,” he said.
Getting the formulation right meant going back to the drawing board repeatedly, adjusting ingredients, flavor and texture while working through sourcing, packaging and production requirements. The goal was not simply to pack more vegetables into a drink, but to create one that consumers would actually want to have regularly.
The resulting blend is positioned as a convenient nutritional supplement for people who struggle to fit enough greens into their daily routines.
It is not intended to replace vegetables, balanced meals or healthy eating habits. Convenience, after all, may help bridge dietary gaps, but it does not make an actual serving of vegetables any less useful.
For Manalo, the launch also marks a move from preparing food in professional kitchens to developing packaged products for a broader consumer market. The challenge is no longer just getting diners to enjoy a dish, but persuading shoppers to make a product part of their everyday routine.
EarthLab plans to introduce additional products addressing specific consumer needs, although it has yet to disclose a timetable for further launches.
Its first offering rests on a relatable premise: knowing what to eat and actually eating it are two different things. Manalo’s answer is to make getting more greens easier, without sacrificing the one thing that could make consumers come back for another serving: taste.
