One day, the craving just hit her. A yearning for the taste of savoury greasy instant noodles, the heat of the chili and the slightest hint of citrus. It’s a familiar feeling for anyone living away from their native country, one that misses home with their stomach. And it started out as a craving but she turned it into a business.
“It’s a funny story,” she reminisced, lips quirking ever so slightly. “I was just looking for Lucky Me! Pancit Canton, where can I get Lucky Me! Pancit Canton?”
Lui Gison, 43, is one of the three women behind My Asian Market (MAMA), an online Melbourne-based grocery store launched last August. Aside from Asian pantry staples, MAMA offers a range of Filipino specialty products.
Starting a business in the middle of the pandemic wasn’t easy. Aside from running MAMA, Lui also works part-time at a pharmaceutical company. A mother of two, she’s barely bothered when her toddler, Skye decides to join in on our video call.
“Oh my gosh, she wants to take over,” she laughs, tone falling somewhere along the lines of amused exasperation as Skye clambers onto her lap. It’s another few minutes but she successfully redirects the toddler’s attention by means of PAW Patrol and a warm drink.
“This is going to be normal,” Lui candidly expresses while warming up the milk. “Seeing kids around while you’re doing your things.”
“I’m gonna go upstairs,” Lui says, making her escape once her youngest is sufficiently occupied. “Hope she doesn’t find me.”
Satisfying her craving, she found, proved to be more difficult than expected. “I was searching online, nothing,” she recounts, gestures fervent. “I couldn’t get to a Filipino store within 5 kilometers,” Lui says, referring to the restrictions at that time.
She sent a message on her group chat with friends, no such luck. In fact, they even expressed that they couldn’t find it either. Lui began to joke around on the chat. If the elusive Lucky Me! Pancit Canton could not be found in any store, maybe she would open her own.
The response she elicited was surprising and in her friends, she discovered two willing allies. “The business partners I found are a dream,” Lui tells me, attributing her two co-founders to the existence of the online grocery store.
Together with F. Signo and J. Alapide, Lui founded MAMA. “I set up a WhatsApp group and we just started it,” she says of the process. “Three days [later], we had an online store.”
September brought in an influx of orders. “It caught us off guard,” she recalls, supposing that there was an unknown demand that she fulfilled by opening MAMA.
“Lately I’ve been [craving], during the pandemic,” Lui introspects, eyes thoughtful. “I don’t know what it is, it’s not only me, you know, there's a lot of Filipino families that are in that space, wanting and craving Filipino food.”
Rather than a job, she thinks of MAMA as her “passion project.” “That’s what they call it nowadays,” she chuckles. “I just want my cravings satisfied,” Lui adds, “[and to] help the community at the same time.”
In the long run, she aspires to utilise MAMA as a medium to benefit not just the community but the Philippines as well. “We’re in the right position,” Lui notes while discussing MAMA’s plans, “to be [giving back].”
In a time where working from home has become the norm, she also has to wrangle with homeschooling while looking after a toddler. “I’m doing like 3 roles at the same time,” Lui says, reflecting on how much she has on her plate. “[and] I’m on my own.”
“Nel works in the hospital…[he’s] a frontliner,” Lui tells me, regarding her husband. She adds that their family was quarantined for a period of time around March or April.
“His work called. A patient that he looked after who tested positive while he was handling that person without PPEs,” a ruckus begins as she continues. “Luckily we were negative so- I’m here upstairs!” Lui calls as the yelling heightens in pitch.
“The demanding 3 year old,” she announces in comical exasperation as Skye reappears, deciding she’s had enough of me monopolizing her mom’s attention.
Going back downstairs, Lui talks about what keeps her going despite everything she has on her plate. “I got my family and everyone’s safe and healthy...I shouldn't be complaining.”
“Just doing some reality checks,” she sums it up as she gets to the kitchen, ready to make lunch. And if reality checks fail, she can always find stress relief in some Lucky Me! Pancit Canton.