CEBU, Philippines — In Metro Manila, George Nocom Pua is known for his successful chain of restaurant brands, as well as other businesses in distribution and logistics. But in Cebu, his name is telling another story, a sort of “hero” in saving the Cebuanos’ well-loved lechon brand from completely crashing to the ground.
George, a self-made restaurateur and businessman, acquired Rico’s Lechon in 2018 while some of the homegrown brand’s outlets in Cebu City were on the verge of closure, including its original home commissary in Talamban.
Now owning the brand that honored the father of Rico’s Lechon—Enrico Dionson, George vowed to bring the distinct Cebuano lechon flavor, not only to places around the country, but probably to the world.
Just like the iconic brands “Ronald Mc Donalds,” “Kenny Rogers”, Rico’s Lechon as a business will continue to put its father Rico at the forefront and Cebu as its place-of-origin despite being owned and operated by a non-Cebuano boss.
Hard-to-get
Long before Rico’s Lechon got into problem with previous officials of the Cebu City government in 2017, George had been courting Dionson to take part in the business—at least to franchise in places outside Visayas such as in Luzon.
Because Dionson seemed not interested in his offer of partnership or was playing “hard-to-get” at that time, the two gentlemen instead became good friends.
A food lover with an amazing knack for good-food and flavor, and a self-confessed “lechonholic”, George went outskirts of Cebu and practically tried all the Cebu lechon both the branded and home-made names. But it was Dionson’s Rico’s Lechon that caught his fancy.
Dionson’s hard-to-get attitude impressed George, on how he loved his business, as if it was an extension of who he is.
George certainly respected Dionson’s decision, but they continued to meet when George is in Cebu either for vacation or to oversee his KPub restaurant here in Ayala Center Cebu.
After six years of friendship and occasionally teasing Dionson that he is still interested to be part of Rico’s Lechon’s success story, the crisis happened. And the rest is history!
The promise
George’s success in business is deeply rooted from his childhood pain of being cheated by a close relative, and seeing his family suffer and a victim of other people’s greed and dire selfishness.
“My father was an employee of my lolo. My uncle gave my father a gasoline station in Baclaran. When life was a little bit better, a relative took away our businesses,” George recalled the painful ordeal he had to witness while he was in his teenage years.
Because of that, life for him and the rest of his three siblings was difficult.
“My mom’s sister paid for my tuition fee in college,” while he had to do any kind of money-making small ventures just to survive while studying.
The difficulties he had tasted early on made him to utter the first promise he made to himself that from that day on “nobody can step on us [family] again.”
George held on that promise as it was engraved in his palms bringing that single promise along with him, while knocking on every store along his way going to De La Salle University to sell t-shirts for corporate giveaways.
Every t-shirt he sold served as an affirmation to his dream of becoming a successful businessman who will never ever step on anyone’s foot.
Starting point
Although his original plan was to become a businessman, after college George worked for a Japanese trading company as sales assistant.
Because he was overly-driven to fulfill a promise he made to himself years back, his mantra was “work, work, and only work.”
“No room for vacation. No extra expenses,” he shared his starting point before entering into the world of entrepreneurship.
His employment with his first employer provided him with wealth of experience in trading business, until he was able to build his own trading company after 13 years.
That Japanese employer was George first and last employer.
First love
George started his own distribution business after over a decade of working for somebody else’s company.
After living his dream of owning a company, and becoming in-control and helping people get employed, George went on to go back to his first love—food.
“When I was in high school at St. Stephen’s, we would have fairs and fund-raisers where I volunteered to cook the food we would sell in school,” he remembered his first commercial entry to food business.
Actually, George traces his passion for food to when he was a child.
He recounted that he would see his mother and grandmother in the kitchen. He was so fascinated by the process that he soon began puttering about in the kitchen.
“It was always barbecue and spaghetti, and we always ended up selling everything.”
In 1997, when Asia was moaning from the regional economic slump, George went against the tide and opened his first restaurant venture, the George Town Super Steak,
followed by Thai BBQ he franchised from Los Angeles.
His affair with his first love blossomed and gave birth to other restaurant brands, such as KPub BBQ, Oppa Chicken, Modern China, Ohawa Traditional Japanese Restaurant and the latest is Rico’s Lechon.
Heart break
George’s passion to play around with food as a business, he admitted is not always a “bed of roses” despite being in love with food.
This foodie-theater-actor-turned-restaurateur also had his share of many heart breaks in the restaurant businesses. He had endured several closing of some failed ventures. But, he never stopped starting, trying and risking again and again.
That’s the prize of being in-love with what you do, he said. “Failure becomes an inspiration and a challenge.”
For him heartbreaks or failures are also blessings because from there, one would know what not to do moving on.
“If you don’t have failure, you will not succeed. I opened and closed many restaurants,” he confessed, but the pain from failures made him more grounded and in touch with success as well.
Heroism
Recently, the world’s premier business event Stevie Awards recognized George’s inspiring story as self-made success story maker in business as “Entrepreneur of The year.”
Aside from being a world-class restaurateur, George is also the hero of his over a thousand employees working for him in his several businesses namely; GNP Trading, where he distributes international brands to world-acclaimed malls like SM malls and Hypermarkets; No Limits Food Corporation and Meat Concepts Corporation.
His “heroism” in successfully turning the tide for the Rico’s Lechon brand, the IBA 2019 judges grants the highest plum to George.
He said his version of charity is giving people a sustainable job, not just a one-shot-deal act of benevolence.
He also saved some Rico’s Lechon employees who temporarily lost their jobs due to the Cebu City government’s decision to close some of its outlets in Cebu City.
For him, making more money is no longer the point, because he already has enough.
“I’m here to enjoy myself. Not anymore to make money,” he said adding that staying in business and growing them is part of his giving-back gestures.
“One employee you hire, you are helping to feed at least four mouths,” George uttered these words with candor.
In saving the fate of Rico’s Lechon, George easily becomes an “adopted son of Cebu”—bringing Cebu’s own lechon pride to the rest of the world. (FREEMAN)