Where Our Muron Began: The Muron Republik Story

Every pack of Muron Republik starts the same way: glutinous rice, creamy coconut milk, pure cacao tablea, roasted peanuts and a stack of banana leaves. But the story behind it started with something much simpler — a gift.

This is how a few batches of homemade muron turned into a small business that now feeds thousands of Filipino families, and why we still treat every pack like it's going to someone we know.

What is muron?

Muron is a Waray kakanin from Eastern Visayas. It's made with glutinous rice cooked in coconut milk, swirled with chocolate from tablea, rolled in banana leaf and steamed until soft, chewy and glossy. For many Waray families, it's the taste of merienda at lola's house, of fiestas, and of pasalubong carried home in a balikbayan bag.

Our Choco Muron stays true to that: glutinous rice and coconut cream swirled with pure cacao tablea and studded with roasted peanuts. That deep chocolate aroma hits you the moment you unwrap it — and that's the feeling we've been chasing since day one.

It started as a gift

In late 2019, our founder Leonora started making muron as small gifts and merienda for her clients. Nothing fancy — just something homemade, wrapped in banana leaf, given as a simple thank-you.

Then something happened that she didn't expect. Her clients kept coming back for more. They asked where they could buy it. And again and again, they told her the same thing: you should sell this.

Sometimes the best ideas come from the people you're simply trying to thank.

Sold out at the FX terminal

So she tried. Leonora's very first customers were commuters lining up at an FX terminal — tired workers and students heading home, looking for something warm and familiar to eat on the way.

The muron sold out every single day.

That small daily sellout gave her the courage to take the next step. She started a Facebook page so more people could order, and slowly, orders started coming from people she had never met — friends of friends, coworkers, and families who missed the kakanin they grew up with.

A Christmas Eve we'll never forget

Then came Christmas 2019, the first holiday season of what would become Muron Republik. Orders came in faster than anyone expected.

On Christmas Eve, while most families were preparing for Noche Buena, the whole family stayed up all night cooking and wrapping muron. Pots kept steaming, banana leaves kept piling up, and everyone helped so that every single order could make it to someone's Christmas table.

It was exhausting. It was also the night we realized this was more than a side project. People weren't just buying a snack — they were sharing it with the people they love.

Growing through the pandemic

A few months later, the pandemic changed everything. People stayed home, and more and more of them started ordering online. To keep up, we hired more staff and more delivery riders.

That's when Muron Republik stopped being just about us. Every order now also supported the families of the people who cook, wrap, pack and deliver our muron. It's the reason we keep sales going every day — because behind every pack is a team, and behind every team member is a family counting on them.

Where we are today

Today, we've sold more than 100,000 packs through TikTok Shop and Shopee. You can also order directly here on our website, and you can now find us on Foodpanda too.

We've grown, but the things that matter haven't changed:

• FDA registered, so you know what you're eating meets food safety standards.
• No preservatives added. Our muron and kakanin are vacuum-sealed instead. (Here's how to store and reheat them properly.)
• Halal certified across most of our line.
• Still wrapped in banana leaf and steamed, the way muron is meant to be made.

Our muron and kakanin today

What started with one chocolate muron has grown into a full family of flavors and Filipino kakanin:

Muron

• Choco Muron — the classic, swirled with pure cacao tablea.
• Special Choco Muron — with a ribbon of dark chocolate that melts when warmed.
• Choco Cheese Muron — sweet cacao meets a salty, savory cheese center.
• Ube Muron — ube and coconut dough twisted together.
• Ube Cheese Muron — creamy ube with cheese hidden inside.
• Ube Halaya Muron — a thick, jammy center of real ube halaya.
• Pandan Muron — fragrant pandan with sweet, chewy macapuno.
• Strawberry Muron — a fruity twist on a Waray classic.

Suman and other kakanin

• Suman Malagkit — simple, sticky, old-school suman.
• Cassava Suman (Lidgid) — soft, sweet cassava and taro.
• Ube Cassava Suman — cassava suman, now in violet.
• Binagol — Leyte's two-layer taro treasure.

To everyone who bought a pack at the FX terminal, ordered from our first Facebook page, or added us to your cart on TikTok and Shopee — salamat. You are the reason Muron Republik exists. Thank you for being part of our story.