Lechon in the Lion City

CEBU, Philippines — Cebuano Chris Calleda has been living in Singapore for about 10 years now.

He had worked there for an international bank for five years until the time came when things got boring for him.

He missed Cebu having been away from his hometown for several years.

But he and his wife thought it was not yet the right time for them to go back home.

"I spent time at HSBC like five years until I didn’t see the allure already of selling for someone else, and thought it was time to give my dreams a chance," the 36-year-old Singapore-based Cebuano entrepreneur shared in an online interview with The FREEMAN.

So Chris decided to start a business in Singapore, an Asian city known for its diverse and thriving culinary scene, saying he had always wanted to become an entrepreneur.

"So I started my own thing in Singapore as my wife did not feel it was ripe for us to go home just yet."

Proudly Cebuano

More than three years ago, he put up Iskina Cebu, believed to be the only place in Singapore that offers the authentic Cebu lechon and grills pigs the traditional Cebuano way: over hot charcoal.

"I missed Cebu and I felt it was high time for the Cebu food culture to be known here. Back then there was only Filipino food, yes, but nothing really pinpointed on a regional level. I basically understood that it was worthwile to capitalize on 'nostalgia' and do it culturally congruent," the native from Talisay City, Cebu said.

Chris boasts Iskina Cebu to be not just an authentic Cebu lechon place in the Lion City but "it’s a home away from home."

"We started this to give Filipinos home away from home and for Singaporeans to have a tourist destination because it is almost like they have travelled to Cebu when they visit us," he said.

"Lechon I must say is what represents Cebu's food culture, in a nutshell. It is one of the things that make us unique."

Chris does not want Iskina to be known only as a lechon place or a food brand but more as a unifying factor that leads to the true evolution of Cebu food and Filipino food in general.

Iskina Cebu started in an old coffeeshop at Geylang East, near the Paya Lebar MRT station in Singapore. It started as a hawker renting four stalls in the place.

He later on transferred the store to The Timbre+, a gastropark made out of container trucks and a hangout place for locals in Ayer Rajah Crescent, Singapore more like the same with Sugbo Mercado in Cebu.

Goals

But Chris wants to set up their own independent shop there soon.

And his ultimate goal is to bring the business to his beloved Cebu.

"I would want Iskina Cebu to finally go home, to Cebu where my heart has always been," he said.

Chris and his wife had resigned from their respective jobs in Singapore to focus on the business, with his wife as HR manager and his "business moral compass."

Aside from his wife, Chris is also lucky to have a good kitchen team running the business composed of Cebuano colleagues as well.

"I am lucky to be working side by side by a partner who is also my close friend Harold Resol," he said.

Chris believes the Iskina Cebu template, given the right conditions will thrive in other countries.

"Business wise, I would aspire to run businesses in Cebu and Singapore and hopefully in other countries too," he said.

Today, about 60 percent Iskina's customers are Filipinos working in Singapore and 40 percent are Singaporeans and other nationalities.

"We even have Russian, Spanish and Italian regulars who visit Iskina frequently," the Cebuano entrepreneur said.

"Locals especially the Chinese love pork and have this vibrant suckling pig culture hence the easy appreciation of lechon. They appreciate the hardwork we put in as we cook old school in a charcoal pit. Also we don't insult our lechon with MSG which most of them appreciate," he also shared.

Iskina Cebu is proud to be the only brand in Singapore carrying the "Cebu" name and "we also take pride on our adherence to culture congruency as reminiscent on our 'timplada,' sauces and even the events we do like manual lechon cooking."

The authentic lechon shop has also expanded its menu to include liempo, grilled chicken (inasal nga manok), the Cebuano-style adobo, sizzling lechon meals and sutukil (sugba, tuwa, kinilaw).

Aside being full-time in the business, Chris is also a father.

He and his wife are also full-time parents to their two kids: an eight-year-old and a nine-month-old.

"Though Singapore has been very good, I would not want to die here. I have always pictured myself growing old in the Cebu island," he shared.

On being an entrepreneur

Now it can be told Chris is living up his childhood dream to be an entrepreneur.

Yes, he was earning well when he used to work in the financial industry before but he felt he was up for something bigger.

"When I was with (HSBC), I was fueled by never ending sales deals and incentives. Money making was great but it imprinted a hole in my soul as I felt I had to do other things apart from just making money. It was mundane and boring," Chris said.

"I have always been entrepreneurial at heart. Business has always fascinated me. I found happiness on capitalizing on human needs and wants," he said.

Chris even recalled asking his parents for some Kiwi, a brush and a Good Morning towel so that he could shine shoes for his classmates who were lazy to shine their shoes for scouting.

In the neighborhood, Chris would also buy in bulk marbles, rubber bands, "pog" and anything “wala na sa uso” so he could sell it again to the same kids that sold him those in bulk once it became “uso” again.

"Well business was simple then, it was innocent, fun and unadulterated. It was not caught in the jargons of it all," he said.

Lessons

Now Chris is learning from his being an entrepreneur.

"I have learned that in business and as in life you must be quick in pivoting and reacting when your plans go awry. I have learned that the easiest part of business is the planning and the most difficult, after execution of plans, is quickly reacting when your positions are unfavorable," the 36-year-old proud Cebuano said.

Iskina Cebu’s struggles, tribulations and victories have made Chris and his family stronger.

"Because contrary to what movies show you about business, it is not easy like CEOs on jet planes. It is pure hardwork. I can see things clearly now, I have and continuously fed my soul."

Chris believes that while there are so many places to eat for the purpose of feeding the body, there are only a few places where you should “die die” eat (feeding the soul) and "the greats are made not by executing easy things but executing the close to impossible things with finesse and a perception of ease."

"I have learned to always crave to be a jack of all trades and masterful in some. And I have learned that passion is an unlimited source of fuel and is contagious," he shared.

"We should be in the business of cultivating people. Long gone are the days where manpower was just extensions of the self. I say build them up, build their dreams, invest in their passions and revolve a business around it," Chris concluded. (FREEMAN)