Priest helps enterprising Albay students ride out pandemic

Like others during the pandemic, two students in Bacacay town, Albay, dealt with boredom and had more time to contemplate their future as quarantine measures were imposed throughout the country.

Before the coronavirus outbreak, 21-year-old John Paul Bolino was on an internship at the Loews Hotel at Universal Orlando in Florida, USA, where he learned how to make pizzas. The internship was part of his hotel and restaurant management studies at the Mariners Polytechnic Foundation College in Legazpi City, where he was a graduating student.

Six months into the internship, the  pandemic happened and the hotel had to close down temporarily. Bolino had to return to the Philippines.

When he got home, he and his friend, Cymon Blaire Belen, decided to pool their money to start a small home-based pizza business. Belen, 22, is a marine transportation graduate. He wants to join the Philippine Navy but the plan was put on hold because of the public health crisis.

St John’s Pizza – initially named Kuya John’s Pizza – was born.

“While we are in a pandemic, we are doing this as our source of livelihood and as our way of fighting boredom,” Bolino said in an interview.

Bolino and Belen are parishioners of Father Vladimir “Vlad” Echalas, who is assigned at the Trinitas Home for Contemplation, a retreat house in Barangay Bonga, Bacacay. When he learned about the students’ initiative, he decided to help them. At that time, the business was just fairly new.

“I’m just making use of my time during the lockdown…. I’m just helping them. We are grateful for supporting our youth as they used and poured in their talents together during the coronavirus pandemic,” Echalas said.

Fr Vlad Echalas

Echalas helps in preparations and delivers pizzas as well. While it might have been incidental, Echalas’ participation in deliveries has been a good marketing strategy as the priest has a wide network of friends. Since he promoted St John’s Pizza on his Facebook account, they have had a steady stream of clients, initially in Bonga village.

They  moved their operation to Legazpi City, at the residence of Echalas, for better logistics in purchasing pizza supplies.

Aside from Echalas and Belen, others on the St John’s Pizza team are John Xavier Bigol, 20, an incoming 3rd year student at Bicol University; and John Rick Begoria, 20, a 3rd year student at Mariners Polytechnic Foundation College.

Belen said that they used to sell 15 pizzas daily but with the help of Echalas, they have been getting 25 to 35 orders per day. Their clients are people from all walks of life,  as well as local businessmen, and friends of Echalas, including Legazpi Bishop Joel “Bong” Baylon and other priests.

St John’s Pizza has also delivered to the Old Albay District, Daraga, Sto Domingo, and Tabaco. They have tapped more riders to do deliveries.

The pizzas are cooked in a small brick oven, which runs on coconut shell charcoal. Their most unique pizza is the Choco  Pili Pizza – a nod to Bicol region’s most famous product.

St John’s Pizza

They also offer the usual pizzas like Margherita, Manager’s Choice, Jerk Chicken, Hawaiian Overload, Pepperoni, Meat Lover’s and Kid’s Cheese pizzas. They sell from P230 to P300.

Many locals have raved about the pizza, which they said taste better than commercial pizzas. Satisfied customers have posted mini-reviews on their own social media pages, as well as on St John’s Pizza Facebook page.

Bolino said their next step is to secure a business permit, as they plan to continue the pizza operations even when school opens.

“Next month, we will get a business permit for St John’s Pizza,” Bolino told Rappler, adding that operations will continue even when school opens. – Rappler.com