Sari-Sari Filipino Restaurant, Market, & Bakery began as a way to fill a void for San Antonio’s Filipino population, who couldn’t find their dishes or products readily available in the city. Thirty years later, the family-owned business continues to serve the Filipino community and many others who visit the hub for comforting eats, imported treats and ube-filled sweets.
Today, Sari-Sari is owned by Camille De Los Reyes, the daughter of the founders, Adam and Imelda Valenzuela, who took over from her parents a decade ago. Together with her husband, Adrian, and a dedicated crew of employees, De Los Reyes has carried on her family’s business, which began as a makeshift shop operating out of her father’s garage.
“My dad would make trips to Houston to gather different Filipino items that we couldn’t find in town, and he started asking people, like our neighbors, other nurses that lived in our community, if they needed anything,” De Los Reyes told MySA during a recent interview ahead of Sari-Sari’s anniversary celebration on Sunday, August 2.
That local need for Filipino food and ingredients planted a seed that eventually grew into the first Sari-Sari Market, located two doors down from the present-day location. The doors officially opened in 1996, and two years later, the Valenzuelas added a kitchen to prepare Filipino recipes for hungry customers. Eventually, they added a bakery after bringing over a baker from the Philippines.
Sari-Sari’s growth over the decades has not been limited to the Leon Valley space on Wurzbach Road. Over time, the business expanded to include a market in Stone Oak, an elevated Filipino concept and even a food truck, Jeepney Street Eats. De Los Reyes and her team have since consolidated operations to the original location, but those ambitious expansions across San Antonio were part of a bigger plan.
“So growing up in the business, it was always just something that we did out of obligation to our family and parents,” De Los Reyes said. “And when I started having children, I realized what a gem of a place this was, and I wanted to make it our mission to introduce it to the rest of San Antonio.”
The Filipino restaurant has not been without its share of struggles, especially in recent times, amid the COVID-19 pandemic and the subsequent economic challenges that have plagued so many small businesses. But through it all, Sari-Sari has survived and even thrived during the hardest times, largely because of the local Filipino community and its supporters.
Sari-Sari’s 30th-anniversary party will take place from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. on Sunday, August 2. The all-day celebration will feature street food, a pig roast, coffee pop-ups, Asian dance groups, local artists, vendors, DJs, karaoke and a live performance by Jocelyn Enriquez, a Filipino American dance-pop icon.
“We’re only here because of the support from our Filipino community, our San Antonio community. So we really wanted to use this day to celebrate them as well and how Filipino food and culture has been able to thrive here,” De Los Reyes said.
Find it: 5700 Wurzbach Road, San Antonio, TX 78238
