‘Hopia love me too’: Eng Bee Tin’s Gerald Chua shares takeaways from thriving pastry business

Growing up with your own hopia factory definitely has many perks for Gerald Chua, whose family owns the famous Chinese pastry brand Eng Bee Tin. For one, he admitted that hopia for him is free and overflowing — anytime and all the time!

“But eventually, magsasawa ka rin (you’ll also get tired of it),” he quipped in an exclusive interview with DAILY TRIBUNE.

“Hanggang ngayon, kumakain pa rin pero hindi naman sobrang dami. Tikim lang to learn (Until now, I still eat hopia but not so much. I just taste to learn),” he clarified.

“Because in this industry, you won’t learn if you don’t try things. Not everything you can learn from school.”

Gerald is the second child of the brand’s owner Gerry “Mr. Ube” Chua, representing the fourth generation of the direct descendants of Chua Chiu Hong, the founder of Eng Bee Tin who founded it originally as a stall in 1912.

“The way we operate, like second-generation siblings,” said Gerald, who handles the company’s operations as vice president for manufacturing. He started as management trainee in 2014 before formally joining the company a year after.

Immersed in bakery operations and Chinese pastry creation, Gerald is a graduate of Food Technology from the University of Santo Tomas. He trained in Baking Technology and also holds a Master in Business Administration degree from the Ateneo University Business School.

All these training and studies, he said, are a part of being duty-bound to bring back something to the family business.

According to him, while businesses back then were ran by culinary trial and error, today’s generation of food business owners like him are “more methodological and scientific” to make the business more efficient.

“Hindi ko sinasabi na hindi nakakatulong ‘yung books, but it’s kulang pa (I didn’t say that cookbooks don’t help, but they’re not enough). Iba kasi kapag actual at nakikita mo from scratch how it’s done (It’s different if it’s actual and you really see from scratch how it’s done) — from the dough to the actual product,” he explained. “If you try and taste it, that’s the only time you’d see the difference.”

From their dad, the siblings continue innovating the hopia by incorporating Filipino ingredients — from Davao durian, to Buko (coconut) Custard, and the latest – Philippine Mango Hopia using Guimaras and Cebu mangoes. The brand is also one of the few, if not only one, with a Choco Nut Hopia flavor, he said.

The company also takes pride of havong hopia x-ray and pillow pack machines that make sure every piece is free from contamination.

Amid these innovations, Gerald and his siblings are determined to keep the family traditions alive, especially, their great-great ancestors’ recipes.

“First, our principle is we don’t skip on ingredients. Hindi namin tinitipid ‘yan (We don’t compromise on ingredients). ‘Yan din ang sinasabi sa’min ng dad namin (That’s what our dad also tells us). Ever since, nu’ng nag-start na rin kami mag-handle ng business, ‘Wag n’yong gagalawin ang mga recipe. Kasi ‘yan ang hinahanap ng tao at d’yan na rin sanay ang tao (Ever since, when we started to take over the business, we were reminded to never alter the recipes because these are what people look for),” he narrated.

The secret why their hopia is “the best” is — there is no secret.

“Saka minsan, wala naman talagang secret (Sometimes, there is really no secret at all!) Ang pinaka-secret lang talaga, ‘wag kang magtipid ng ingredients (The utmost secret is to not cut short in ingredients), which is true, we use the best butter, the best full-cream milk. Marami kang milk na pwedeng gamitin, pero we use mahal na ingredients talaga. And s’yempre, pagdating sa process, talagang we make it sure na standard ‘yan (There are many kinds of milk, but we use the expensive ones. And when it comes to the process, we really make sure that it is standardized).”

In today’s world where “work smart” is the battlecry partly due to the rise of Artificial Intelligence (AI), for Gerald, nothing beats good old hard work to achieve success — may it be in life or running a business.

“S’yempre, bata palang kami, iniimmerse na kami (Of course, we have been immersed in the business since we were young). Pero ang masasabi ko talaga, ‘yung hard work. Ang sinasabi nga nila, ‘work smart,’ which is true pa rin naman, pero ang importante pa rin ay ‘yung sipag pa rin talaga (There is nothing wrong with working smart, but working hard is still much more important).”