Instead of closing his recently opened H Café and Events Place located at Scout Limbaga in Quezon City because of the enhanced community quarantine, Rad Pelayo thought of how he could make a difference in these difficult times. A forever optimist, Pelayo was determined to find a way that would keep his staff busy and productive.
One of the things that he wanted to do was to set up a store in his restaurant that would sell farm produce and locally produced food items. And this was a good time for Pelayo to do so because the farmers were having a hard time disposing their produce because only a few of their customers were open for business. In addition to helping the farmers, Pelayo could also continue his advocacy of eating healthy by switching to healthier alternatives.
Pelayo transformed H Café and Events Place into an open market where people living nearby can do their marketing in a clean and safe environment complete with praise songs in the background. If you are not from the area, you can order from a wide range of vegetables, fruits, eggs, meat and poultry and have them delivered to their doorstep. You no longer need to brave the long lines at the grocery or worry about social distancing at the local market in order to stock up on your food.
In addition to selling farm produce, Pelayo also took the opportunity to introduce their plant-based products. The whole-food, plant-based diet, according to Healthline.com, focuses on minimally processed foods, specifically plants and is effective at stimulating weight loss and improving health. The diet excludes refined foods, like added sugars, white flour and processed oils and it pays special attention to food quality.
“This is another way of attracting people to get into a healthy lifestyle and we have Gising Gising, tofu and pinakbet that makes use of plant-based bagoong,” Pelayo said. “We also have plant based tocino which is made of mushroom and what makes our tocino and other similar products different is that it caters to the Filipino palate.”
You can also plant-based frozen items to your Fresh Market Basket like tapa, tocino, longganisa and sisig. Customers can also purchase native chicken, black pig or baboy ramo, pindang babi and longganisang Candaba. For those who would like to take a break from their cooking chores, Pelayo also offers ready to eat meals. These include Whole Baked Chicken Tamarind, Chicken Hardinera, Beef Calderta, Sisig Baboy Ramo and Stevia Leche Plan.
Pelayo has been a staunch supporter of eating healthy after he attended training seminars about the various supplements that a direct selling company offered and this made him realize that it was important to eat the right food. Since he lived alone, Pelayo found it tedious to prepare his own food and came up with idea of delivering nutritious and balanced meals.
He put up Healthy Meals PH some time in 2018 to deliver carefully prepared food to customers in Metro Manila. Healthy Meals PH meals are well balanced and contain the right amount of carbohydrates, proteins, vitamins and minerals.
The response he received when he started his healthy food delivery service was overwhelming. In its second month of operation, Pelayo was already delivering almost 500 packs of food weekly.
‘Healthy Meals PH aims to promote complete, balanced, proper combination and sequence meals for every Filipino with different needs, without compromising the joys of eating,” Pelayo explained. “You can now enjoy healthy and luscious food without compromising the desire of your taste buds and unminding effects on your health.”
Due to the success of his meal delivery service, he decided to put up a restaurant and events place. The place is transformed back into the restaurant in the afternoon until the evening and serves healthy versions of Beef Kaldereta, Chicken Crusted Pizza, Patatim and Kare Kare, among others. These dishes have been deemed to be the most popular among Pelayo’s customers in the food delivery service.
For more information about the Fresh Basket and featured products of the week like ube pandesal and dragon fruit, among others, visit the Healthy MealsPH FB page. H Café and Events Place also welcomes walk in customers and entertains delivery requests. H Café and Events Place is located at No. 2 Scout Limbaga, Diliman, Quezon City. For inquiries please call 0917-1223116. (Edgard Hilario)