Written by Amanda Coers – When you ask Marlo Fijer, owner of the Fiesta Filipino grocery store in downtown Brownwood, what brought him to central Texas from Canada, he jokes, “It’s not the weather.” Fijer moved to Canada from the Philippines in 1998, working in the medical field. He met his wife, Ginalyn, in Canada, and they had a son.

As many young couples often do, they found themselves in a financial bind. In 2006, the family began looking to move to America, hoping to continue their careers in the medical field, and find more affordable living away from the high cost of living in larger cities. Ginalyn put out her resume, and was offered a position as a Medical Technologist at Brownwood Regional Medical Center.

“We visited this place,” said Fijer, speaking of Brownwood. “That was in the summer, it was really hot.”

The family stayed in the area for a month, and found the housing market to be a welcomed respite from the inflated prices of the larger cities. They felt Brownwood was a great place to raise a family. With their decision made, Fijer returned to Canada for a month, working a full time job and two part time jobs, and finalizing their move to America while his wife stayed in Brownwood to work at the hospital. He sold their belongings and traveled with his young son back to Brownwood to reunite with his wife and start their life together in central Texas.

Fijer began dreaming of opening a Filipino market in 2009. With credit issues to fix, his dream was put on hold and he continued his work as a Medical Technologist in Comanche, where he’s worked for almost a decade.

“I worked on my credit from 2009 to just this year,” he explained. With his finances stabilized, Fijer was ready to open his market. The small grocery store was opened in March 2017 with a very limited customer target base in mind: local Filipino families looking to purchase food items for traditional meals prepared at home. Fijer began to broaden his horizons after speaking with Amy Wright at the Small Business Development Center. Wright advised Fijer to expand his customer base.

“She said, no Marlo, this is not a good thing,” he laughed. “She said you need to introduce it to the Brownwood community. So I said okay, maybe I can introduce my noodles.”

And so Fiesta Filipino began offering a small menu, featuring Pancit, very thin rice noodles fried with soy sauce, cabbage, carrots, and chicken. The noodles brought in more customers.

“Surprisingly for the past month, my customers were all Americans. The good thing is most Americans like to explore and try something new,” Fijer said.

Capitalizing on the American romance with food, Fijer plans to expand his menu. The cafe is tentatively looking to soon offer bubble tea, a drink made with iced tea, sweetened milk or other flavorings, and “pearls” made from tapioca.

Filipino families still frequent the market, though not as often as other members of the Brownwood community.

“They grab supplies here, and it’s good, but they don’t come in as much,” said Fijer. He still has a heart for the Filipino families and is currently looking into offering services for them through his grocery store, particularly a Filipino tradition known as balikbayan boxes. The boxes are filled with various items from America, like foods, clothing, and hygiene products, and shipped back to relatives in the Philippines.

Sending balikbayan boxes to loved ones in the Philippines has long been a tradition for Filipinos, whenever someone in the family is better off, they would share their wealth.

“We love doing that twice a year,” he explained. “So we’re going to introduce that here.”

It is a marriage of honoring Filipino tradition and offering new culinary adventures for their American neighbors that makes Fiesta Filipino a great addition to the community. Marlo and Ginalyn Fijer, two Filipino parents, with a Canadian son and an American daughter. The family is a true picture of hardworking immigrants who’ve strengthened the economy, and enriched their community.

Fiesta Filipino is located at 211 East Baker Street in downtown Brownwood. The store and cafe is open Thursday through Saturday from 10 a.m. to 8 p.m. and on Sundays from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m.