As a working mom she would make recipes her children loved, but with a hungry brood to feed, she had to make sure they were also easy to prepare and budget-friendly. The children’s favorites like longganisa, tocino and siopao were also a big hit among neighbors and workmates. Soon, orders poured in for her delicious homemade meat products and her passion for cooking turned into a lucrative business.

In 1975, she and her husband Jose J. Ong quit their day jobs and made the big leap to build their dream business. More than four decades later, she continues to be mother to one of the country’s most successful and multi-awarded food companies, providing guidance and livelihood to over 50,000 Filipinos.

Her passion to serve only the same quality delicious food she has served her own family for decades — in a way that’s also affordable and easy to prepare — is what drives product development in CDO today.

As she often reminds her children in the family business, “the most important thing is family, and there’s nothing like mealtimes to bring
everyone closer together. We have to make sure the food we make brings everyone home.”