Casa Lontoc

Before I narrate how it was when we started, let me give you a bit of a background of why we got into the business. Ever since I can remember, my family loved to eat, and we loved our sauces. My mother was a great cook, and my three older brothers and I loved her cooking. Once a week we would indulge in a family barbecue, and sinamak was a staple dipping sauce, particularly since my mother’s roots are from Iloilo. My brothers and I also enjoyed having parties with friends, and we concocted our own sauces, rubs, and dips, for everyone to enjoy. As we got older, we went our separate ways, and had our own paths in life. I put up an IT company after working for a known IT corporation, and thought that would be my career until I got old and retired.

It was one of the usual parties we would have with friends when I met Anne. I didn’t realize it then, that she would end up my wife, and change my life for the better. Don’t get me wrong, I did not have a bad life, I was doing okay with my IT company, enjoyed partying with friends, and had the support from my family. Anne and I eventually tied the knot on Sept 20, 2013, and life could not have been better. We transferred to a house we rented in Antipolo, and it had a front and back yard. My dad was staying with me (my mom passed away in 2006, never having met Anne), and loved to spend the mornings in the garden with his coffee and pan de sal, listening to the birds chirping. Needless to say, Anne and I decided to make use of the garden and took up the hobby of planting seedlings. We started with different varieties and colors of chillies, basically for ornamental and home use. But Anne was always business-minded, she and her sisters ran a school for children. She also indulged in small buy and sell, and was at that time busying herself with soaps, oils, and other beauty products. Not for the money really, but she simply enjoyed doing business. So, one day I asked her if she would like to distribute vinegar, as I had a friend that manufactured distilled white vinegar. Well, the challenge was taken, and it was the start of our new business.