Angela Gaspar: Recipe for Success
Angela Gaspar is an avid runner, clocking 5 kms a day on average. One day she woke up and couldn’t walk, which was later diagnosed as due to an inflamed hip injury. She tried all sorts of treatments for two years, but nothing worked. Determined to get back on track, she visited an alternative nutritionist, who simply suggested eliminating dairy from her diet.
Since her daily breakfast was composed of yogurt and homemade granola, the nutritionist advised shifting to coconut yogurt. Taking dairy out of her daily diet was challenging at first. Yogurt is a daily staple in Spain where she lives. It was nearly impossible to find coconut yogurt even from organic stores at that time (2019) in Barcelona. She decided to make it herself. Coco by Angela was born.
“When my nutritionist suggested coconut yogurt, my past and present hit me. I am originally from the Philippines, the land of coconuts,” she says. “My grandfather was an advocate of the coconut industry back in the 1980s so I felt like fate hit me on the head like a coconut falling from the tree.”
What started as a hobby in her kitchen in 2019 quickly developed into a small but blossoming home-based enterprise. Restaurants started ordering from Angela. When the Covid-19 pandemic hit she thought she had to stop her business. Instead, she started donating her coconut yogurt to healthcare workers.
“It must have been good karma because during the lockdown stores started to contact me and that’s when things started to take off.”
With restaurants shutting down, people had no choice but to eat at home, which gave rise to the demand for good quality and healthy food. Good karma indeed!
Coconuts contain protein, several important minerals and small amounts of B vitamins. They are especially high in manganese, which is essential for bone health and the metabolism of carbohydrates, proteins and cholesterol. The high content of potassium in coconuts may also assist in the prevention of kidney stones and osteoporosis as well as may reduce bloating and blood pressure. They also support the immune system health with natural anti-viral, anti-bacterial, anti-fungal, and anti-parasite agents.
Coco by Angela is completely vegan, made of pure coconut milk extracted from coconut meat. The huge difference is in the taste and texture. When people taste it, they are immediately addicted. Some are even surprised that the taste of coconut is not overpowering.
“That is because the coconut milk I use is pure, it has no flavourings, just the natural taste of a fresh coconut. The texture is also creamy, similar to that of Greek yogurt,” she describes her yogurt.
Despite having no background in food manufacturing, everything was a fun challenge for Angela. She would figure things out and then move to the next one.
“Everything from producing the perfect product to getting the organic and health certifications to sourcing the right ingredients. It took persistence, resourcefulness and thinking out of the box,” says the mother of two whose interest in baking started when she was a little girl. Being a perfectionist, her baking skills helped tweak recipes she experimented with many different variations until she got what she wanted. Each item that comes out of her kitchen has to be perfect.
She applied the same tenacity to produce her coconut yogurt, working in tandem with a food engineer for a year until they got the perfect combination of taste and texture.
The most fun part is creating the product as well as finding new recipes that integrate yogurt.
“It is not only my breakfast but I also use it to make pastries, sauces and many savoury dishes,” she says.
Aside from her yogurt business Angela is also an entrepreneur with a full-time job. She founded and continues to run a global publication business in Spain.
“I use different parts of my brain for each business, it keeps me sharp and on my toes,” she says. Two years of lockdown has greatly helped her focus at work. Her two teenage boys have helped her business.
“Thanks to the lockdowns and inability to travel they were able to spend school holidays helping me make yogurt. It was great to bond but also to teach them the value of hard work,” she recounts.
Coco by Angela currently serves about 100 stores throughout Spain. Her dream is to expand globally, especially in Asia including Singapore and the Philippines.
When asked what the most encouraging feedback from a customer was, she laughs while telling us, “One customer only feeds his parakeet my yogurt!”
Her favourite moments are doing food tastings and seeing pure joy on people’s faces when they taste her yogurt.
“Nothing gives me more satisfaction than that!” says Angela, who is now happily back to her daily runs.
We love Coco by Angela and hope you do, too!
Karmela | ws
Images : @cocobyangela
