MANILA, Philippines - Albert Joseph Jr. has always been a hard worker. Barely out of college, he was a flight steward with Sterling Philippine Airways from 1977 to 1978, before he joined Philippine Airlines (PAL).
Albertito (as he is better known in the PAL family) started as domestic flight steward and retired as flight purser on May 6, 2009 after 30 years and nine months of dedicated service.
Most dream of going into a business, more so with the prospect of a salary-less retirement in an uncertain future.
As Albertito likes to say, “You snooze, you lose.”
Getting started is always the hardest part. For Albertito, it began as an attempt to cook chili garlic sauce for his personal consumption. He tested his super garlic chili sauce on the discerning palates of his fellow PAL cabin and cockpit crew.
Orders started to come in and soon Albertito’s Super Garlic Chili Sauce was traveling around the world. Since he used soya oil from the chili sauce, he had another brilliant idea — how about marinating cooked tuyo in chili-flavored soya oil?
Pure soya oil is tasteless and odorless and brings out the natural flavor of tuyo. It does not contain cholesterol, and if used in lieu of trans and saturated fats, it may even help lower blood cholesterol.
Albertito now has three products on the market, which have passed the tests for commercial sterility and nutritional content from the Department of Science and Technology (DOST): Super Garlic Chili Sauce; Tuyo Spread with Garlic, and Tuyo Fillets in Soya Oil.
“It’s foolish to think you can become a millionaire overnight,” shares Albertito. “But a P10 profit by volume, can end up giving you P10 million.”
In this age of globalization and fusion cuisine, next on the drawing board might even be Albertito’s tuyo ice cream.
From Me Tuyo is available at Robinsons Supermarket, and also at CAIR Snack Bar inside the PAL Inflight Center near NAIA Terminal 2.
For details, e-mail Albertito at frommetuyo@yahoo.com.