Happiness and calmness---that’s what ice cream delivers to everyone, explicitly to young and old individuals. Indeed, each flavor brings back fond memories.

Eric Jan Buenaflor shared his inspirational story with his comfort food: ice cream. He is one of the luckiest tasters, as he can manufacture his own flavor by being the managing partner of Karabella, which now produces 23 flavors of gelato ice cream made from local and natural ingredients.

Eric Jan reminisced the time when his mother Jan Buenaflor and uncle Alfred Ng asked him if he wants to join their starting business Karabella in 2017. Its brand is derived from the words “caraballa” which means female carabao and “bella” which means beautiful. Behind Karabella’s origin was the pursued advocacy of the Buenaflor family to help the local farmers from using 100% carabao’s milk and natural ingredients in making ice cream.  

In fulfilling their goal, they acquired a partnership with Gawad Kalinga Enchanted Farm managed by a group of farmers called General Trias Dairy Raisers Multi-Purpose Cooperative (GTDRMPC) from Cavite. Since then, they sourced fresh carabao’s milk from the farm with the aim of giving the workers sustainable income. 

It seems like hitting multiple achievements in one action for Eric Jan. By managing Karabella, it completed his love for the ice cream and social responsibility for the country. Therefore, he made concerted efforts in learning gelato processing to acquire a better and healthier product.

“I have a high trust that Karabella will standout in the market since it processes gelato from carabao’s milk, which makes it smoother and creamier. It has no vegetable oil, filled milk, or any additives, which also makes the Karabella healthier and tastier,” proudly shared by Eric Jan.

It became a challenge for Eric Jan to introduce Karabella in the market since it is new. But with confidence, he took the risk to rent a commissary for the production of Karabella. He believed that, someday, their space for freezers in restaurants will multiply and, eventually, build their own store.

Eric Jan also took the opportunity to join the “Ultimate Taste Test” or UTT contest in Metro Manila in 2018. He won second place with his salted egg caramel and ube halaya flavored gelato.

The triumph inspired Eric Jan to experiment with different flavors that will attract a lot of buyers. Through his perseverance, Karabella got invited to food fairs, birthdays, christenings, parties, and other celebrations, which signifies that it had already widened its customers.

Again, as a proof that Karabella had won the heart of dessert lovers, it constantly joined the UTT presenting different flavors. It introduced sorvete de manga and bazooka bubblegum in 2019. Dynamite and chocoholic mint in 2021. Amadeo, manille, paradise mango rum, very old captain, and intramuros in 2022. The judges and attendees were always amazed by the Karabella products. According to them, every scoop brings back memories. Now, it’s not just luck since it has already been proved that Karabella is the best of the bests desserts.

“I, together with my family and staff, continue to learn and improve our gelato flavors. But, we are sticking to local taste because we are committed and dedicated to also served the local farmers and local suppliers,” Eric Jan said.

In reaching more sales, Eric Jan decided to have certification from the Food and Drug Administration (FDA). With that, they managed to enter prime malls around Metro Manila, specifically 12 marketplaces and 3 metro supermarkets. Also, they have five distributors in Metro Manila. Recently, they reached Robinsons in Boracay, Aklan.

“Someday, Karabella will be part of Luzon, Visayas, and Mindanao. I want people to know what Karabella is, what it tastes like, and what carabao’s milk is,” hopefully said by Eric Jan.

Eric Jan was also grateful for discovering the edge of carabao’s milk in the gelato making. According to him, the Karabella Dairy collects about 30 liters of carabao’s milk from GTDRMPC weekly. At the peak season, it collected around 80-100 liters. 

Since then, carabao’s milk has become the foundation of Karabella Dairy as it is full package when it comes to health benefits. It also gives different vibes when combined with other local and natural ingredients.

As a carapreneur, Eric Jan’s wildest dream was to bring the Karabella Dairy internationally with the intention of promoting that Filipino serves prime foods and desserts, which could unbox memories with their unique taste.