For Susie Quesada, food has always been front and center. As a young child she taste-tested exotic Filipino ice cream, as well as different flavors of homemade breakfast sausage, lumpia and more for her family’s business.
That was just the ice cream. The business, later named Ramar Foods — in honor of grandparents Ramon and Maria — would grow to add a variety of Filipino frozen foods, such as barbecue meat, lumpia, steamed buns, dumplings and more, eventually becoming a Bay Area leader in the manufacture of Filipino frozen foods, which were distributed nationally and internationally.
“I always loved working with kids,” Quesada said, noting she enjoyed coaching youth soccer. “So when I went to college, I thought I’d love to teach, so I went about getting my teaching credential.” Quesada never went back, but rather found a way to incorporate her teaching skills in her new career in the family business.Quesada sat down with this news organization to discuss the Pittsburg business that now employs 250 to 300 workers. The interview has been edited for length and clarity.My grandmother was a serial entrepreneur. She started many businesses in her lifetime. So she started this one when they came over here from the Philippines in the late 1960s.