Rebuild Chaaste Family Market

In 1987, two young dreamers arrived in the United States from the Philippines, looking for a better life. They wanted to build a legacy for their children, to provide opportunities they never were able to experience. Susan and Arturo Esteban found a way of living by bringing Filipino culture through food and hospitality to our community: Chaaste Family Market. Today, all three of us sons (Christian, Abraham and Gabriel) continue to keep their dream alive. And we need YOUR help to keep our business thriving! We've been a proud partner of our community for almost 40 years and ask for you to consider a contribution so we can continue to serve you for many years to come.

Our mom and dad, Susan and Arturo Esteban, were not only the dreamers, but also the brains and hands behind the business.They were not architects by trade, yet they measured each and every tile our customers stand on right now and laid them all down themselves. They had no prior experience being business owners, yet they learned on the job. And as time passed, the job became our family's livelihood. It became a part of us. And we, their sons, were inspired to carry on their dream and legacy to the next generation.

My brothers and I are born Filipino and raised in America. We lived in the Philippines for many years and fell in love with our culture. We feel passionate to maintain that connection of heritage for Filipino Americans by bringing them the traditional food of their parents' culture. We are also grateful that our customers have recently extended to many other ethnicities, so that we can share our culture with people from all walks of life. We seek to make authentic, traditional Filipino food just as popular as the newly-rising Filipino-fusion food.

At the core of the Filipino culture is community. A trademark of Filipino-Americans is an enthusiasm to share cultures and experiences. Chaaste Family Market has been serving the city of Pasadena as a Filipino cultural staple since 1987. However, our biggest obstacle in #keepingculturealive is our finances. Our parents followed the American Dream and used their own savings to build the store from the ground up in the 80s, making things work any way they could, many times putting in the hard work themselves and building their own equipment with creative solutions. A lot of our supplies and appliances are out-dated and our equipment needs modernization. The store needs renovations after maintaining the business for almost 40 years. 

Our current finances allow us to get by just enough to maintain our current business, but our appliances and fixtures are continuing to get older, and our finances cannot keep up with the level of deterioration. We are grateful for any contribution you can provide that will allow us to bring revival and renovation to Chaaste Family Market and help us #keepculturealive. Our dream is to be a historic landmark in Pasadena and to continue serving the community with our food, our family, and our hearts.