Today we’d like to introduce you to Roger San Juan.
Hi Roger, we’re thrilled to have a chance to learn your story today. So, before we get into specifics, maybe you can briefly walk us through how you got to where you are today?
After moving to the US in 1998, I held many odd jobs in hopes of saving up enough money to bring the rest of my family here from the Philippines. The line of work that was most accessible for me at that time was in the food industry. I worked for a café, for a catering company, and several chain food establishments. Through this experience, I developed a passion for creating food. For about 20 years, I continued to work in the food industry with dreams to start a business of my own but never had the opportunity to pursue those dreams. With five young children, it was simply too big of a financial risk to take.
Fast forward to 2019: I was working for a chain grocery store where I currently work today. I would bring home-cooked meals to work for me to eat during my lunch break. I would get approached by curious coworkers asking what my lunch was that day because it “smelled and looked amazing.” So, I started to bring extra homecooked meals to work for my coworkers to try. Every single item seemed to be a hit and many of my coworkers expressed how much they wished there was Filipino food in the Cleveland area where Filipino cuisine is very underrepresented. I then became very empowered to finally bring my dreams to fruition and promote Filipino cuisine, specifically the food that I grew up with.
In April of 2019, I purchased a lightly used food trailer from Pennsylvania. After a month of branding, marketing, and getting all of the necessary paperwork in place, Parilya, Cleveland’s only Filipino food truck, was born. Now nearly three years later, my family and I continue to promote our Filipino culture through Parilya’s authentic Filipino cuisine, including our new addition of dessert offerings from our small batch bakery. Today, Parilya has amassed a following, has been recognized by Cleveland Magazine as a Best of Cleveland 2020 winner and is at the cusp of expanding into a full-time business.
Would you say it’s been a smooth road, and if not, what are some of the biggest challenges you’ve faced along the way?
It has definitely not been a smooth journey getting to where we are today. For nearly three years, I have worked a full-time job and have used every free minute I have to run and operate Parilya on the side. It has been a crazy couple of years of running downtown to purchase ingredients from Asiatown before sunrise, working a full shift at work, and then going back to doing production for Parilya after work, only to wake up the next day to do it all over again. Between both jobs, I work about 18-20 hours per day, every day, for the past 3 years. My partners in this business also have full-time jobs outside of Parilya: my wife works a full-time job in retail, my youngest son is a full-time high school student, one daughter is a full-time pharmacy student at Northeast Ohio Medical University, and my other daughter worked a full-time job using her Baking and Pastry Arts degree before coming back to Cleveland to create her own amazing desserts for Parilya.
Just when we thought we were on the brink of making the leap to operate Parilya full-time, a global pandemic hit the US just shy of one year into the start of our business. All of the festivals and private events we had booked were cancelled. Thankfully, we were classified as a “take-out” food establishment and were able to continue operating throughout the pandemic by partnering up with local businesses. We were especially thankful for the continuous source of income Parilya was able to provide my family when my wife was temporarily furloughed from her full-time job during the pandemic. Issues continued to arise as closed borders and lockdowns in the Philippines made it difficult for us to source certain ingredients and forced us to increase some of our prices in order to sustain our business.
In the end, our customers have made facing all of these challenges worth it. We were apologetic for having to increase our prices and for cancelling events due to technical problems, but our customers were always very vocal about their support for our small family business. Our customers even offered to help cover the damages inflicted on our food truck after it was robbed a few days shy of New Year’s Eve in 2020. It is such an amazing feeling to know that the community has our back and supports Parilya’s continued success.
Thanks – so what else should our readers know about Parilya LLC?
Parilya is a family-owned and -operated food truck based in Cleveland, OH. It is currently the only Filipino food truck in Northeast Ohio, serving freshly made, authentic Filipino food all made from scratch. Parilya brings a taste of the Philippines to the Northeast Ohio region where Filipino food is difficult to find.
“Parilya” is a Tagalog word which refers to an iron grate, much like the one we see on a typical charcoal grill. To our family, charcoal grilling is very reminiscent of our family gatherings and special occasions in the Philippines. Our goal with Parilya is to bring a little bit of our home to the Cleveland area and showcase our culture the best way we know how: through our cuisine. The happiness it brings us when our customers tell us that our food reminds them of home is unmatched. It blows our mind whenever customers travel great distances just to get a taste of Parilya. I am most proud of my team for continuously providing exceptional customer service, which has gained us loyal repeat customers, and for continuously providing quality product no matter the challenges we have faced along the way.
Within the next year or so, Parilya is planning to upgrade from being just a side-gig to becoming a full-time business with hopes to expand to a brick and mortar. Our goal is to continuously add on to our rotating menu and introduce more and more Filipino dishes from my childhood.
If you had to, what characteristic of yours would you give the most credit to?
It’s not enough to just provide incredible food that is unique to the area. At Parilya, we truly believe in making every customer’s experience the best that it can be. Providing exceptional service is at the top of our list—we are receptive to feedback and suggestions, always aiming to improve in whichever way we can. Customers have definitely taken note and have let us known that our service sets us apart from some of the other food trucks. I attribute Parilya’s success to the connections we have made with our customers and our strong desire for continuous improvement and growth.
Pricing:
- Chicken tocino over garlic fried rice: $12
- BBQ Pork Skewers: $6/pc
- Lumpia: 4pc/$6
- Pancit noodles: $8
- Ube brownies: $6
Contact Info:
- Email: parilyacle@gmail.com
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/parilyacle/?hl=en
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/ParilyaCLE/
- Twitter: https://twitter.com/parilyacle?lang=en
- Other: https://streetfoodfinder.com/ParilyaCLE
Image Credits
Parilya
