 Haydee
de Pedro Alonzo's success as a small business entrepreneur is an
inspiration to new immigrants who want to pursue their dream of getting
into business. From selling homemade sausages to friends, Haydee continued
to improve upon her favourite family recipe until she developed a formula
for a savory and healthy food product which she called Gourmet Longaniza
and Gourmet Tocino. The products, cured pork sausage and thin cured pork
slices are both moderately sweet and marinated in pineapple juice.
Word spread around very quickly about Haydee's products and orders kept
coming.
Seizing the
opportunity, Haydee decided to organize her operations in 2003. The
following year, with assistance from a federally-funded Self-Employment
Program, she launched the Tocino Foods, Inc. and in 2005, she began
marketing her meat products under the Haydee's Delights brand.
Haydee's son and daughter, Neil Andrew Kirkwood Munro and Dorothy Munro,
who grew up seeing their mother prepare home-made sausages, are now both
shareholders and directors of the family corporation. In September 2005,
Haydee was nominated for the Inspiration Entrepreneur of the Year Award,
an affirmation of the strength of TFI's business concept and market
acceptance. In the same year, she was featured in the Canadian
Immigrant Magazine as one of the successful immigrant women who made good
despite all odds.
The daughter of a
Congressman, Haydee was a successful beauty salon and restaurant owner in
the
Philippines
before she immigrated to
Canada
. She holds a Bachelor's Degree in Food and Nutrition and completed a
Dietetic Internship Program, both from leading universities in the
Philippines
. In
Canada
, she has a Certificate of Food and Beverage Management from the
Vancouver
Community College
. While working as office administrative assistant, she decided to sell
home-made sausages to friends for extra income. She never regretted going
into this small home-based business venture.
Tocino Food's goal is
to earn a high reputation for innovative leadership in pre-packaged meat
products and healthier alternatives for favorite Asian foods. Aside from
developing healthier and unique tasting versions of the old Filipino
favorites for Filipino-Canadians and other Asian communities, Tocino Foods
introduces western-friendly tastes to share these traditional treats with
a much wider audience. By introducing Filipino foods into the mainstream,
combined with mainstream marketing methods, Tocino Food aims to share a
proud part of the Filipino culture with the rest of
Canada
.
Today, Haydee's
Delights are found in the Lower Mainland at T&T Supermarket outlets,
in selected Marketplace IGA stores, at Shopper's Drug Mart on
No.5 Road
and Cambie in
Richmond
, as well as many neighborhood Filipino and Asian grocery stores. In
Alberta
, Haydee's Delights are sold in
Calgary
's T&T Supermarket and the West Edmonton Mall. It may not be long
before Haydee's Delights are sold all over
Canada
.
At the invitation of
her brother, Governor Larry de Pedro of North Cotabato, Haydee organized a
Canada-USA Trade Mission to the
Philippines
in 1995 in cooperation with Orion Technologies. As part of its community
involvement, TFI has sponsored and participated in community recreational
events and charity fundraisers. Haydee plays the guitar and she is gifted
with a lovely voice. She sang the Philippine and Canadian national anthems
in a recent dinner banquet attended by Prime Minister Stephen Harper in
Vancouver
and in a Welcome Dinner tendered by the Philippines Canada Trade Council
for visiting Philippine Vice-President Noli de Castro. - LBC
Haydee Alonzo
TOCINO FOODS INC.
Distributor: Anchor Foods International, Ltd.
Contact: Gordon Leung
Tel: 604-273-6735
Fax: 604-273-0136
www.tocinofoods.com
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