Like countless people whose lives and livelihoods have been disrupted by the pandemic, Gio Flores has eventually found a way to survive and perhaps even thrive in a post-COVID-19 world. By tapping into his love for cooking, he has started a small but now thriving business selling Gio’s Premium Savoury Garlic Longganisa.
By ALEX Y. VERGARA
What was supposed to be a banner year for makeup artist Gio Flores became a time fraught with unprecedented challenges instead. As one of the pioneers of the beauty queen training camp Kagandahang Flores or KF, which Gio formally founded with older cousin Rodgil Flores in 1995, the group was poised to mark its 25th year as beauty queen makers with great fanfare in 2020.
After bringing pride to the country by helping hone the likes of Bea Santiago, Angelia Ong, and Precious Lara Quigaman, just to name a few, bring home the crown during their respective global beauty pageants, there were indeed plenty of reasons to celebrate. But then the COVID-19 pandemic hit, wiping out not only KF’s plans to celebrate its many achievements over the years with a series of parties and reunions.
Overnight, Gio and his team of makeup artists and hairstylists also found their main sources of livelihood dry up, as events, from debuts to weddings, fashion shows to product shoots, were either cancelled or postponed indefinitely. The various makeup courses Gio took up in the US, as well as his industry connections suddenly meant nothing, as everything revolving around entertainment, beauty, fashion and events had ground to a halt.
“There’s no other way to put it,” he shares with PeopleAsia. “I wasn’t spared from the collateral damage brought about by COVID-19. Although I’m very thankful that I’m still very much alive and healthy, it was a direct hit just the same. The pandemic has certainly affected me mentally, emotionally and financially.”
With challenges also came new opportunities. Soon enough, the survivor and master of reinvention in him kicked in, as Gio suddenly experienced a eureka moment while having breakfast one morning. Since he loves to cook (having come, he says, from a family who loves to cook and eat good food) and putter around the kitchen, he made a small batch of longganisa during the height of the lockdown.
“I wasn’t even serious in making a business out of it,” says Gio, who also used to make various Filipino desserts or kakanin during town fiestas in their province. “Since it was just an experiment, I didn’t even know if it would taste good. It was just my way of occupying myself while I waited for my usual makeup gigs to come back. But, as I’m learning now, they won’t be coming back anytime soon.”
After having a few mouthfuls of his home-made longganisa with fried rice, Gio soon realized how tasty his creation was. And before breakfast was over, something had already clicked in his head. But not so fast. Before formally going into the longganisa business, he decided to test the waters first by making a bigger batch of the Pinoy sausage so that his friends could try them.
“The verdict was unanimous,” Gio declares. “I started receiving messages from friends raving about my longganisa no sooner after I had them delivered. Masarap daw talaga! (They say it really tastes good!) That was all the confirmation that I needed before deciding to finally buy all the ingredients I’d be needing.”
Even Gio was overwhelmed as he dipped into his savings to initially buy 20 kilos of raw ingredients, primarily premium pork as well as heads upon heads of garlic, on line. In due time, the first batch of “marinated to perfection” Gio’s Premium Savoury Garlic Longganisa was ready to be sold through online orders.
What makes Gio, who’s also conscious about his diet, proud about his offerings is they’re “keto-friendly and with no sugar and preservatives added,” he says. “Just all-natural goodness!”
He then breaks down what goes into each piece of his artisanal food offering:
O Uses prime quality or “Triple A” pork meat dubbed as the “King of Pork”;
O Contains 20 percent “quality” fats as opposed to “scrap” fat or meat that could be unhealthy;
O Hygienic production process that’s evident, Gio vouches, in the product’s “clean taste”;
O Absolutely no extenders and preservatives.
“I’m selling it at P380 per pack consisting of 14 to 18 generously portioned pieces,” he says. “Ever since I launched and started delivering Gio’s Premium Savoury Garlic Longganisa, sales quickly rose to 100 kilos per week after the first week.”
Gio isn’t about to turn his back on makeup. Nor is he saying goodbye to training and styling potential beauty queens. But as the crisis continues, he and his team have found a new source of livelihood that has been helping tide them over, as the whole world awaits for a vaccine or effective treatment for COVID-19.
Who knows, this might be the start of something bigger for him and for countless others who have switched gears and put their respective professions on hold to go into the food business, a business that provides us with a basic necessity we all can’t do without, pandemic or no pandemic.
