When I first met him in 2011, Chef Edward David Mateo was just starting a career in baking. He had just founded La Royale Patisserie (LRP) and he was working alone. He produced beautiful cakes and pastries in an apartment unit — or was it a condo? — he rented to serve as his production hub. Our set-up for shoot (for FLAVORS Magazine) would be at the covered rooftop, where one or two of his closest friends would be waiting to help.

Despite being alone, he produced awesome baked goods that did not only look great on print down to the smallest details, but tasted as good as they looked. And I saw in him that look of hunger for success, that authenticity and drive, that strong determination that would propel him to great heights in the career that he had chosen.

Fast forward to 2026. He has just celebrated the 15th anniversary of the LRP Group Food Service at the Grand Ballroom of Marco Polo Ortigas with his staff, which now numbers some 120 persons. His guests include prominent chefs who have become good friends through the years, all genuinely happy for him and proud of what he has become. His company is doing great, having branched out into different food business ventures, such as Minatamis.ph (which has professionalized the business of making and selling good-quality kakanins, such as biko, cassava cake, sapin-sapin, ube kalamay, maja blanca and kutsinta, available online and in store at D. Tuazon St., Quezon City); Frozen Spoon (which makes frozen desserts, such as Buko Munggo ice cream, Buko Salad, Buko Pandan and Brazo de Mercedes available at S&R stores nationwide),; and, now, Caramello House of Caramel Cake (a specialty cake store located along Lopez Ave., Los Baños, Laguna, specializing in Caramel Cake in various sizes).

Chef Edward has certainly come a long way. From a one-man team who offered dessert buffets, customized cakes and pastries via an online order-and-deliver business set-up in 2011, LRP has grown into a full-fledged food production business that offers specialty food and supplies hotels and supermarkets with cakes and frozen products. The production center now happily churns out 500 to 700 cakes daily, from Monday to Saturday. Chef Edward has fully explored his chosen area of specialization, which is pastry arts, and he could not be happier. To think that Minatamis.ph and Frozen Spoon only began during the much-dreaded pandemic! Only a person with drive, determination and passion such as Chef Edward could turn a curse into a blessing.

“When I was young, my dream was not to become a chef. I wanted to be a pilot. I dreamt of flying high, traveling the world, and seeing life from a different perspective. I believed success meant soaring above the clouds. But life has its own flight plan,” says Chef Edward.

At an early age, he wanted to start a business, but he did not have enough money. He had the passion and vision, but, financially, he was not ready. “But,” says he, “I learned that you do not start a business because you have enough money. You start a business because you are brave enough.”

Thus, his journey began, but it was not easy. There were failures, lessons learned the hard way, and sleepless nights. There were days when giving up felt easier than pushing forward. “But,” he says, “taking it step by step, prayer by prayer, and investing hard work every single day, things began to change. Small wins turned into bigger victories, and struggles became stories, not because of luck but because of persistence.”

Happy 15th anniversary, Chef Edward, and may you soar even higher.