Ask restaurateur Gerik Chua what he and his family that owns the famed Filipino-Chinese pastry brand Eng Bee Tin love among their products and food, and he would say with a loud laugh: “Lahat kasi basta pagkain, game kami!” (Everything because when it comes to food, we’re always game!)

Gerik, like any Chinese Filipino, not only loves food, but keeps his family in high regard.

“You know, it’s hard to be in a family business, especially coming from the fourth generation. (As they say,) the first generation builds it. The second generation expands. The third generation kills it,” he laughed out loud again, joking his dad, Gerry “Mr. Ube” Chua, who represents the third generation of owners.

But he clarified that actually, it was during his father’s time that their company rose up from being “negative” in business.

“Now, in my generation, why is it harder? Because now, in everything that we do, we have to think how to carry this over to the next generation and improve on what has been done. Actually, that is very difficult,” he shared to DAILY TRIBUNE.

“But I am actually lucky because I’m not alone. We are three siblings in the family who are working together. When I started with the business, when my father retired, we were at 11 branches. Now, we’re already at 50.”

Running a family business

“Wala ata akong na-contribute dito (I might have contributed nothing),” Gerik jested when asked for his contribution to the company, adding: “Freeloader lang ako! (I’m just a freeloader).”

But jokes aside, he shared: “What’s the most important for us is to maintain our product quality and make it reasonably priced for everyone.”

“In business, number one is quality. Second, you should always innovate. There should be always something new so people would not get bored with you. Third, you should be consistent. If your product’s quality is consistent, your customers would always return. It’s not important that your profits are not that high, as long as you’re consistent, you would be able to grow your business slowly but surely,” he affirmed.

“In running a business, what is important is first, you must love what you’re doing. Don’t take it just as your job. Second, you should have good people with you who would help you navigate (the business). Because you can’t do everything on your own. Especially when you’re running a business with multiple stores, you must have people you could trust and are there for you when you need them,” he said in Filipino.

According to Gerik, who is the company’s vice president for operations, their new generation of owners is much more guided with data than the previous ones.

The advantages and disadvantages of running a family business, he said: “First of all, it’s 24/7. It’s not an 8-to-5 job that after you clock out, you would no longer be bothered. Being in a family business, if you’re needed, even if it’s in the middle of the night, you have to be there.”

“But at the same time, everyone who is in the family business develops a deep connection with the business and everyone shares the same goal, which is to grow and strengthen it,” he noted.

Getting personal with each other could not be avoided among family members running the same business, he pointed out.

“But we have an agreement that there should be no in-laws (who would meddle). It means that only us in the family who could make decisions. Because if it’s just among your siblings, if you fight, you’d get over it quickly. But when there are in-laws, there is sulsol (gossip or unsolicited advice), for us, not good.”

Gerik, who studied baking science and took up Marketing in college, always clashed in ideas with his dad. He would like to experiment, but his dad is there to guide, and then eventually let them skirt their own mistakes in running the joint.

Conflict is normal but “nothing you cannot get over with,” Gerik assured. 

All family members still live in the same house with their parents. They eat together, go out together on Sundays, and “basically, we just try to be there for each other.”

Beyond business: Inheriting the spirit of volunteerism

Gerry and Gerik might have “clashing” ideas when it comes to business, but in terms of advocacy, they go shoulder-to-shoulder — literally, as volunteer firefighters.

The Chua father and son are among the organizers of TEXTFIRE Philippines, the country’s largest firefighting volunteer organization. Both are now more into the management side than actual action.

“Unang training ko 12 eh. Ilegal ‘yun (I first trained when I was 12. That was illegal),” he quipped, remembering his stint as among the youngest volunteer firefighters. “But I really started when I was 16… We were tasked to fold and clean the hose.”

He observed that kids today do not have the same patience. “Pero totoo ‘yun. Sobrang ikli ng attention span nila (That’s true. They have very short attention span),” he fretted.

But as a young firefighter then, his tasks were more into helping in relief operations and medical missions. 

“Kami, as mga bata nu’ng mga panahong ‘yun, ang sarap ng feeling kapag nakakatulong ka (As the young ones before during that time, we felt so happy that we’re able to help),” pondered Gerik, who once rescued a baby in a toilet bowl. 

“When there is fire, people are in panic. But as soon as they see the firetruck, you can see relief and hope in their eyes. It gives us firefighters a different feeling. For us, just being able to help them, even if we don’t get a thank you, we’re already okay with that. But if they do thank us, that’s a bonus,” he said in Filipino. “We’re not happy when there’s fire. But we’re happy that we’re able to help.”

According to him, fearing for his life as a firefighter is “normal.” In fact, he got injured a lot of times, including stepping on a stray nail.

“Dati, mother ko ayaw (My mom was against it),” he shared. “But she got no choice!” he said while laughing again.

But then his mood changed. “Alam mo, may isang bumbero kami nahulog sa firetruck habang may sunog. Halos isang buwan na nasa ospital ‘yun (You know, we have a fellow fireman who fell off from a firetruck while it was moving fast during a fire operation. He was at the hospital for almost a month). He never returned to firefighting.”

He recalled, however, of another fireman who did not lose heart: “We also have another fireman whose father died in a fire. Despite that, a lot still join as firefighters, despite experiences like those, because nothing could replace the feeling you get after being able to help those in need.”

“And you could help not only in putting out fire. There are lots of ways for you to help,” he encourages those who want to volunteer not only for “bragging rights” or for social media.

Gerik has spent more years in volunteering than in business and he sees himself doing it for as long as he lives. Like his dad, he is no longer in the ground and is now more into managing their groups of less than 200, made up of up to 5,000 members. Many of these volunteers are women and members of the LGBTQ.

“It’s exactly all walks of life,” he shared. “We have volunteers who are uber rich business people. There are those who are by-standers. But when it comes to fire, everyone is united and equal.”

What to do in case of fire

“First of all, if there is a fire, sound the alarm,” Gerik advised. “If you do not have an alarm, shout that there is fire so other people would know. Then, number two, get out of the house as soon as possible. Then call a firefighter.”

According to him, if you call a fire station, you should be calm. “Because sometimes when the victims call while panicking, they could not give accurate information. So that delays the response.”

The number one cause of fire is overloading sockets, he stressed.

“When it’s hot, you put on the electric fan, then the aircon (air conditioner) and whatnot. Sometimes, the socket could not take it anymore.”