"I started it all, around forty years ago. I first imported Lorenzana bagoong, patis, and other spices. Then, I expanded the line to include around 500 products - including seafood, vegetables, sweets, juices, snack foods etc," said Solomon Udarbe Lorenzana Jr, better known to family and friends as Sammy.

The story began in 1908 when Sammy’s grandfather,Don Felipe Lorenzana, from Tagudin, Ilocos Sur started the business. Sammy recalls, "Don Felipe was a Protestant bishop in our town. He was also a trader and bought in goods from China and sold it in the Philippines. He learned how to make bagoong from his travels in China. One of his 16 children, my father, Solomon Lardizabal Lorenzana, decided to continue the business. He and his wife, Anita Udarbe, made bagoong and other Filipino sauces in their backyard in Ilocos."

"I saw the hardships of my parents as they did all the work by themselves. Even at an early age, I was very interested in the family business," Sammy said.

The second of six children, Sammy went to San Francisco when he was 18, where he took up Business Administration at the University of San Francisco. After graduation, he was drafted into the US army and was sent to Germany. He served the US Army for two years and then went back home to the Philippines.

"When I came back to the Philippines, Marcos was in power. Life was hard. I didn’t like it there. I left in disgust," Sammy recalled. He went back to Europe and decided to further his studies in Germany where he took up his doctorate in Economics at the University of Heidelberg, the same university where Jose Rizal took up his second doctorate. While in Germany, Sammy married a German nurse with whom he has two children, Diana and Eva Kircher.

Speaking of his first wife, Sammy said, "We were happy but our cultures clashed. So, the marriage ended, although we have remained good friends."

Then came a challenge from his father that changed Sammy’s life. " My father talked to me and convinced me to sell the Lorenzana products in the US. He said that at that time, almost forty years ago, he was selling some Lorenzana products in the US and was making around $1,000 a month. He challenged me, ‘maybe you can make it $10,000 a month’. We had no money then. My dad just said, ‘Ikaw na ang bahala.’ With a handshake, my father made me exclusive distributor worldwide. But, he didn’t give me any capital to run the business," remembered Sammy.

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