ADVERTISEMENT
Manila Bulletin devider Lifestyle devider Food devider VIRAL: Inspiring Filipino entrepreneur and his vegan lechon dream

VIRAL: Inspiring Filipino entrepreneur and his vegan lechon dream

Published Dec 18, 2020 08:00 am

Remember 'you are never denied, and only redirected'

We all have those days when everything seems to not fall in their proper place that you couldn't help but sit back and cry. That's what a now viral social media post is all about.

Entrepreneur known as Chef Elpi shared his sentiments on Facebook about how his dream of having a vegan restaurant, starring his plant-based lechon belly creation, crumbled as his investors backed out.

Chef Elpi's vegan lechon belly

"Last week, we were supposed to open my small vegan restaurant, located in Sampaloc, Manila, near La Loma," he said in the post. "I was so happy, because finally, I can rebuild my small vegan restaurant here in Manila. (My small vegan resto in GenSan closed down because of the prolonged lockdown and I want to rebuild it here.)"

Unfortunately, that's where the happiness ends. According to him, he and his investors didn't agree on one part of the contract. So they decided to end it, putting a stop on the launch of his Manila-based vegan restaurant, which caused him much dismay.

Chef Elpi

But apart from the jokes about "putting up a vegan/plant-based lechon house at the heart of the Lechon Capital of the Philippines is a joke," him missing his loved ones in General Santos City and Davao, and a two-day crying marathon, Chef Elpi picked himself up an decided to still pursue his dream. But instead of his original plans, this time he concocted to pan out a smaller scale to his business idea. 

"The next morning, I packed up my bag, went to La Loma, searched for a place to rent where I can stay nearby, bought a stainless steel cart, bought a small freezer," he said. "I did all of those in one day, and tada! Surprise! I just put up the very first plant-based (vegan) lechon house in the Philippines, right at the heart of the Philippines' Lechon Capital, La Loma! (Akala ko ba si Cebu ang Lechon Capital?)."

Elpi vellychon mobile house

Now, thanks to that post, his "vellychon" house on wheels garnered quite an attention. On his first day, Dec. 16, he's already out of stock after three hours of opening. And it looks like people are getting converted, and want more of it.

"I don't know if I will make it. I just want it so badly. Even if I have to start at the bottom again and do everything from scratch," he said. "Even if I have to disobey my parents this time for the nth time. Even if there is a greater chance of failing again… even if magmukha akong katawa-tawa, 'cheap,' at baliw, I will do this no matter what it takes!"

With a good product, rightful cause, and determination, it looks like the future is bright for Chef Elpi and his one-of-a-kind lechon belly.

Click here to know how you can get your hands on his healthy lechon belly. 

Related Tags

vegan Plant-based Chef Elpi Lechon John Legaspi food
ADVERTISEMENT
.most-popular .layout-ratio{ padding-bottom: 79.13%; } @media (min-width: 768px) and (max-width: 1024px) { .widget-title { font-size: 15px !important; } }

{{ articles_filter_1561_widget.title }}

{{ item.title }}
.most-popular .layout-ratio{ padding-bottom: 79.13%; } @media (min-width: 768px) and (max-width: 1024px) { .widget-title { font-size: 15px !important; } }

{{ articles_filter_1562_widget.title }}

{{ item.title }}
.most-popular .layout-ratio{ padding-bottom: 79.13%; } @media (min-width: 768px) and (max-width: 1024px) { .widget-title { font-size: 15px !important; } }

{{ articles_filter_1563_widget.title }}

{{ item.title }}

{{ articles_filter_1564_widget.title }}

{{ item.title }}
.mb-article-details { position: relative; } .mb-article-details .article-body-preview, .mb-article-details .article-body-summary{ font-size: 17px; line-height: 30px; font-family: "Libre Caslon Text", serif; color: #000; } .mb-article-details .article-body-preview iframe , .mb-article-details .article-body-summary iframe{ width: 100%; margin: auto; } .read-more-background { background: linear-gradient(180deg, color(display-p3 1.000 1.000 1.000 / 0) 13.75%, color(display-p3 1.000 1.000 1.000 / 0.8) 30.79%, color(display-p3 1.000 1.000 1.000) 72.5%); position: absolute; height: 200px; width: 100%; bottom: 0; display: flex; justify-content: center; align-items: center; padding: 0; } .read-more-background a{ color: #000; } .read-more-btn { padding: 17px 45px; font-family: Inter; font-weight: 700; font-size: 18px; line-height: 16px; text-align: center; vertical-align: middle; border: 1px solid black; background-color: white; } .hidden { display: none; }
function initializeAllSwipers() { // Get all hidden inputs with cms_article_id document.querySelectorAll('[id^="cms_article_id_"]').forEach(function (input) { const cmsArticleId = input.value; const articleSelector = '#article-' + cmsArticleId + ' .body_images'; const swiperElement = document.querySelector(articleSelector); if (swiperElement && !swiperElement.classList.contains('swiper-initialized')) { new Swiper(articleSelector, { loop: true, pagination: false, navigation: { nextEl: '#article-' + cmsArticleId + ' .swiper-button-next', prevEl: '#article-' + cmsArticleId + ' .swiper-button-prev', }, }); } }); } setTimeout(initializeAllSwipers, 3000); const intersectionObserver = new IntersectionObserver( (entries) => { entries.forEach((entry) => { if (entry.isIntersecting) { const newUrl = entry.target.getAttribute("data-url"); if (newUrl) { history.pushState(null, null, newUrl); let article = entry.target; // Extract metadata const author = article.querySelector('.author-section').textContent.replace('By', '').trim(); const section = article.querySelector('.section-info ').textContent.replace(' ', ' '); const title = article.querySelector('.article-title h1').textContent; // Parse URL for Chartbeat path format const parsedUrl = new URL(newUrl, window.location.origin); const cleanUrl = parsedUrl.host + parsedUrl.pathname; // Update Chartbeat configuration if (typeof window._sf_async_config !== 'undefined') { window._sf_async_config.path = cleanUrl; window._sf_async_config.sections = section; window._sf_async_config.authors = author; } // Track virtual page view with Chartbeat if (typeof pSUPERFLY !== 'undefined' && typeof pSUPERFLY.virtualPage === 'function') { try { pSUPERFLY.virtualPage({ path: cleanUrl, title: title, sections: section, authors: author }); } catch (error) { console.error('ping error', error); } } // Optional: Update document title if (title && title !== document.title) { document.title = title; } } } }); }, { threshold: 0.1 } ); function showArticleBody(button) { const article = button.closest("article"); const summary = article.querySelector(".article-body-summary"); const body = article.querySelector(".article-body-preview"); const readMoreSection = article.querySelector(".read-more-background"); // Hide summary and read-more section summary.style.display = "none"; readMoreSection.style.display = "none"; // Show the full article body body.classList.remove("hidden"); } document.addEventListener("DOMContentLoaded", () => { let loadCount = 0; // Track how many times articles are loaded const offset = [1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10]; // Offset values const currentUrl = window.location.pathname.substring(1); let isLoading = false; // Prevent multiple calls if (!currentUrl) { console.log("Current URL is invalid."); return; } const sentinel = document.getElementById("load-more-sentinel"); if (!sentinel) { console.log("Sentinel element not found."); return; } function isSentinelVisible() { const rect = sentinel.getBoundingClientRect(); return ( rect.top < window.innerHeight && rect.bottom >= 0 ); } function onScroll() { if (isLoading) return; if (isSentinelVisible()) { if (loadCount >= offset.length) { console.log("Maximum load attempts reached."); window.removeEventListener("scroll", onScroll); return; } isLoading = true; const currentOffset = offset[loadCount]; window.loadMoreItems().then(() => { let article = document.querySelector('#widget_1690 > div:nth-last-of-type(2) article'); intersectionObserver.observe(article) loadCount++; }).catch(error => { console.error("Error loading more items:", error); }).finally(() => { isLoading = false; }); } } window.addEventListener("scroll", onScroll); });
Join Our Newsletters

Sign up by email to receive news.

© 2025 Manila Bulletin The Nation's Leading Newspaper. All Rights Reserved.