Filipina finds niche food market in Pinoy nurses in Wales
By ROSE ECLARINAL, ABS-CBN Europe News Bureau
SWANSEA, Wales -- For many Filipinos scattered around the world, nothing compares to a sumptuous meal of adobo, kaldereta or sinigang. Pinoy food always brings back memories of home.
For 36-year-old Beth Boorman, it was an opportunity she did not miss. She has found a niche market in Swansea by tapping the Pinoy taste buds. It was her own need to find Filipino food ingredients and local food for her household requirements that paved the way for the opening of her own store in Swansea more than nine years ago, with the assistance of her Welsh husband.
Boorman’s store, which is housed in her garage, is the only Filipino store in town.
She fondly recalled how she started selling just six items of Pinoy goods. Then, her friends also started to flood her house with requests for more.
“Pag may meeting kami, may gathering kaming Pinay, dinadala ko lang ang sasakyan ko. Nakasupot lang yan. Dati, namimili lang ako sa Earl’s Court (London). Nalaman ko na pwede rin pala akong mapa-deliver dito. So na-convert ko na lang ang garage ko. Tapos nagbabahay-bahay ako. Kung di sila makaantay, pupunta na lang sila dito. Minsan, kahit nasa PIlipinas ako, may text akong nare-receive na gustong magpa-deliver ng bigas. Kaya dapat talaga, planado yung vacation ko,” she explained.
From a small number of items to a full-swing business, Boorman now also cooks and caters food for Pinoy parties in Swansea.
“Kung walang customer, wala ako. Kaya kailangan mo silang bigyan ng halaga. Kasi walang negosyo kung walang mga customer na Pinoy. Buti nga dumami ang mga Pinoy nurses dito sa UK,” she said, explaining the relationship she has built with Filipino nurses in Swansea.
When the UK Home Office recruited Filipino nurses to work in UK hospitals in early 2001, Boorman’s clientele grew ten-fold.
“Nung dumating kami dito, that was 2001, wala kaming kilala. Si Beth nagpunta sa accommodation. Nag–offer siya sa amin na pwede kaming pautangin, tapos bayaran namin after a month. Kasi nung bago kami, wala kaming pera. Kaya malaki ang tulong niya sa amin. Kahit kakikita pa lang niya, pinapautang niya. Maski yung second batch hanggang fourth batch, pinautang rin niya yun,” said Felma Arriola, a Filipino nurse in Swansea who has become Boorman’s loyal customer and friend.
Thirteen years ago, her fate was uncertain in the Philippines. It was a difficult life fending for herself and her big family. But she said it was during this precarious period in her life when she discovered her business inclination. While she enjoyed helping her mother sell vegetables and repacked charcoal in the market in her home province in Northern Philippines, she also made money that put her through school.
When she married a Welsh man, she started a new life and a business in Wales.
Boorman calls herself a small-time, persevering businesswoman in the quaint town of Swansea. She is humbled that her business has helped not only her family back in the Philippines but many Filipinos in Swansea.
“Naka pagpundar ako ng properties sa Pilipinas na di ko namamalayan. May apat na lote, nakapagpatayo ng bahay doon. Nakapag-aral ako ng kapatid ko at pamangkin at natulungan ko pa ang iba kong kapatid. Sa pag ne-negosyo naman, kailangan mo ng tiyaga para kumita ka. May pera dito sa UK, kailangan mong humanap ng paraan kung paano ka kikita sa magandang paraan,” she said.
SWANSEA, Wales -- For many Filipinos scattered around the world, nothing compares to a sumptuous meal of adobo, kaldereta or sinigang. Pinoy food always brings back memories of home.
For 36-year-old Beth Boorman, it was an opportunity she did not miss. She has found a niche market in Swansea by tapping the Pinoy taste buds. It was her own need to find Filipino food ingredients and local food for her household requirements that paved the way for the opening of her own store in Swansea more than nine years ago, with the assistance of her Welsh husband.
Boorman’s store, which is housed in her garage, is the only Filipino store in town.
She fondly recalled how she started selling just six items of Pinoy goods. Then, her friends also started to flood her house with requests for more.
“Pag may meeting kami, may gathering kaming Pinay, dinadala ko lang ang sasakyan ko. Nakasupot lang yan. Dati, namimili lang ako sa Earl’s Court (London). Nalaman ko na pwede rin pala akong mapa-deliver dito. So na-convert ko na lang ang garage ko. Tapos nagbabahay-bahay ako. Kung di sila makaantay, pupunta na lang sila dito. Minsan, kahit nasa PIlipinas ako, may text akong nare-receive na gustong magpa-deliver ng bigas. Kaya dapat talaga, planado yung vacation ko,” she explained.
From a small number of items to a full-swing business, Boorman now also cooks and caters food for Pinoy parties in Swansea.
“Kung walang customer, wala ako. Kaya kailangan mo silang bigyan ng halaga. Kasi walang negosyo kung walang mga customer na Pinoy. Buti nga dumami ang mga Pinoy nurses dito sa UK,” she said, explaining the relationship she has built with Filipino nurses in Swansea.
When the UK Home Office recruited Filipino nurses to work in UK hospitals in early 2001, Boorman’s clientele grew ten-fold.
“Nung dumating kami dito, that was 2001, wala kaming kilala. Si Beth nagpunta sa accommodation. Nag–offer siya sa amin na pwede kaming pautangin, tapos bayaran namin after a month. Kasi nung bago kami, wala kaming pera. Kaya malaki ang tulong niya sa amin. Kahit kakikita pa lang niya, pinapautang niya. Maski yung second batch hanggang fourth batch, pinautang rin niya yun,” said Felma Arriola, a Filipino nurse in Swansea who has become Boorman’s loyal customer and friend.
Thirteen years ago, her fate was uncertain in the Philippines. It was a difficult life fending for herself and her big family. But she said it was during this precarious period in her life when she discovered her business inclination. While she enjoyed helping her mother sell vegetables and repacked charcoal in the market in her home province in Northern Philippines, she also made money that put her through school.
When she married a Welsh man, she started a new life and a business in Wales.
Boorman calls herself a small-time, persevering businesswoman in the quaint town of Swansea. She is humbled that her business has helped not only her family back in the Philippines but many Filipinos in Swansea.
“Naka pagpundar ako ng properties sa Pilipinas na di ko namamalayan. May apat na lote, nakapagpatayo ng bahay doon. Nakapag-aral ako ng kapatid ko at pamangkin at natulungan ko pa ang iba kong kapatid. Sa pag ne-negosyo naman, kailangan mo ng tiyaga para kumita ka. May pera dito sa UK, kailangan mong humanap ng paraan kung paano ka kikita sa magandang paraan,” she said.
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