Jordy Navarra runs one of Manila’s most talked-about kitchens. He also thinks very carefully about his shoes.
At Toyo Eatery, Jordy Navarra has built a reputation for Filipino cooking that treats tradition as a living and evolving thing. The work is physical as much as it is creative, and being granted a Michelin Guide recognition doesn’t change that math. In his kitchen, footwear is infrastructure. That might sound like a small detail until you’ve spent time near a professional kitchen. Navarra is clear on this. He approaches what he puts on his feet with the same scrutiny he applies to sourcing ingredients or perfecting a technique. His choice is the BIRKENSTOCK Profi-Birki, the brand’s professional line built for people who stand at attention for hours without stopping.
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Infrastructure Beneath The Craft
The shoe earns its place practically. Its ergonomically contoured footbed absorbs impact and supports natural posture. The sole is slip-resistant while the construction is lightweight, resilient, and engineered to handle heat and moisture. “In the kitchen, the right shoes keep you grounded,” Jordy says. “They let you focus on your work without thinking about your feet. Comfort becomes part of discipline.”
Heritage Meets The Long Game With BIRKENSTOCK And Chef Jordy Navarra
Jordy’s cooking is grounded in Filipino heritage, through sourcing, processes like fermentation, and textures and flavors that carry cultural memory, all of which comprise an ethos that refuses to be static. His philosophy revolves around tradition as a framework to expand, not a relic to preserve. What makes his partnership with BIRKENSTOCK more like a genuine alignment than just another campaign is the shared philosophy underneath it. BIRKENSTOCK operates with a similar ethos: while it’s grounded in centuries of orthopedic design principles, it continues to find new ways to approach material and silhouette, translating its line-up of evolving products across a variety of cultures and contexts.
Inside Toyo Eatery, that thread of meticulous attention is just as present. The same care Jordy brings to a plate extends to all the details that support his work from the ground up. A well-designed shoe becomes as essential as a knife sharpened before service.
The BIRKENSTOCK Brand Of Excellence
The brand’s ongoing Birkenstories series proves that craftsmanship isn’t only visible in the finished product. It lives in tools that make sustained excellence possible. While the first Philippine chapter honored a woodworker shaped by resilience and material honesty, “BIRKENSTORY #2: BIRKENSTOCK Meets the Michelin Experience of Jordy Navarra” lands in a Manila kitchen that has become a benchmark for what Filipino fine dining can be.
What Navarra’s story adds to the ongoing conversation is that the pursuit of precision reaches all the way down. Every detail in a high-performance kitchen matters; the body needs to be supported so the mind stays free. The work of a master, it turns out, begins with what carries him forward—including the shoes on his feet.
About BIRKENSTOCK
BIRKENSTOCK is a global brand which embraces all consumers regardless of geography, gender, age and income and which is committed to a clear purpose-maintaining foot health. Deeply rooted in studies of the biomechanics of the human foot and footed on a family tradition of shoemaking that can be traced back to 1774, BIRKENSTOCK is a timeless «super brand» with a brand universe that transcends product categories and ranges from entry-level to luxury price points while addressing the growing need for a conscious and active lifestyle. Function, quality and tradition are the core values of the lifestyle brand which features products in the footwear, sleep systems and natural cosmetics segments.
BIRKENSTOCK is the inventor of the footbed and has shaped the principle of walking as intended by nature (“Naturgewolltes Gehen”). With around 6,200 employees worldwide, BIRKENSTOCK is convinced that how things are made matters as much as the product itself. To ensure these quality standards, the Group operates a vertically integrated manufacturing base and produces all footbeds in Germany. In addition, BIRKENSTOCK assembles over 95% of all products in Germany and sources over 90% of materials and components from Europe.
Raw materials are processed to the highest environmental and social standards in the industry. For materials testing BIRKENSTOCK operates state-of-the-art scientific laboratories. Headquartered in Linz am Rhein, the BIRKENSTOCK Group also operates its own sales offices in the United States and Canada as well as in Brazil, Japan, South Korea, Denmark, Poland, Switzerland, Sweden, Spain, the United Kingdom, France, the Netherlands, Dubai, Singapore, India, China and Australia. Birkenstock Group B.V. & Co. KG Burg Ockenfels, Linz am Rhein, Germany.
For further information, visit www.birkenstock-group.com. Explore more of BIRKENSTOCK’s products, including its BIRKENSTOCK Profi-Birki series, at www.birkenstock.com.
Catch Part 1, Part 2, Part 3, and Part 4 of the full Birkenstory featuring Jordy Navarra on Instagram, and discover how craftsmanship shapes those who shape culture. To stay updated, follow BIRKENSTOCK on Instagram at @birkenstockphofficial.
Photos courtesy of BIRKENSTOCK
Frequently Asked Questions
Jordy Navarra is a Filipino chef known for leading Toyo Eatery, a restaurant celebrated for reinterpreting Filipino cuisine as something evolving rather than fixed in tradition.
Toyo Eatery has earned recognition from the Michelin Guide, highlighting its influence in Filipino fine dining.
Navarra sees footwear as essential “infrastructure” in the kitchen. Since cooking is physically demanding, the right shoes help reduce fatigue, support posture, and allow him to focus fully on his craft.
He wears the BIRKENSTOCK Profi-Birki, designed for long hours of standing with features like an ergonomic footbed, slip-resistant sole, and durability against heat and moisture.
Navarra’s approach to cooking—respecting tradition while evolving it—mirrors BIRKENSTOCK’s philosophy of combining heritage orthopedic design with modern innovation. Both emphasize craftsmanship, function, and long-term performance.
