Inspired by his European travels, Randy Torrecampo’s Goodness Graze flourished during the pandemic and is now expanding across Metro Manila. The journey of Goodness Graze traces back to owner Randy Torrecampo’s time in university. While pursuing a degree in mass communications, he ventured into different businesses.
These included something as simple as selling cookies to classmates to bigger initiatives such as franchising a burger joint or exploring glass jewelry sales. However, it was a fortuitous suggestion from a friend and a trip around Europe that inspired Torrecampo to establish his catering business in 2019, just before the onset of the pandemic. During his travels in Amsterdam and Belgium, he would stop at shops that sold cheese wheels and pastries.
“Having conversations with the owners and storekeepers made me learn more about the stories and history of each food item, [which] made me appreciate each of them more,” he explains, “until one day I thought, ‘why not bring that experience to the Philippines?’” But then the pandemic hit, which, in a way, allowed his business to thrive. As people sought out smaller, more intimate gatherings, his grazing tables became a hit. Still, Torrecampo admits that he was sometimes on the edge of his seat.
“There were too many uncertainties so we had to make a lot of calculated moves to ensure our survival,” he said. Despite the challenges brought about by the pandemic, his business evolved from once a modest kitc.