We were lucky to catch up with Charlene Lopez Young recently and have shared our conversation below.
Charlene, appreciate you joining us today. We’d love to have you retell us the story behind how you came up with the idea for your business, I think our audience would really enjoy hearing the backstory.
It started through a series of game nights and wanting to cook Filipino food for my new friends in STL.
We really just took a shot and it stuck! STL is a huge BBQ city and we wanted Filipino BBQ to be a part of the conversation.
As always, we appreciate you sharing your insights and we’ve got a few more questions for you, but before we get to all of that can you take a minute to introduce yourself and give our readers some of your back background and context?
The Fattened Caf started as a side hustle — it was powered by our love for Filipino food and wanting to bring it to South City St. Louis. What began as a tiny pop-up inside Earthbound Beer quickly turned into a movement, with people lining up for their signature smoked longganisa and bold, Filipino BBQ-inspired flavors.
There was a season in our entrepreneurship journey when we both had full-time jobs while cooking late into the night. We poured everything we had into making our vision a reality. We dove into the pop up scene, gotten into consumer package goods, explored anchor locations, and we still do those things but, now The Fattened Caf has it’s own a brick-and-mortar spot on S Jefferson Ave that we opened in August. I’m proud of our endurance and hard work. It’s definitely gotten us this far.
I think what sets us apart isn’t that we do Filipino food — it’s that we intentionally have invited folks into our community to celebrate the Filipino food culture. In our space we host lumpia rolling workshops (tickets are live on our website!), build your own Kamayan parties, and started The Filipina Collective which is just a group of Filipinas who want to meet other Filipinas, be friends, network, and build community.
Any insights you can share with us about how you built up your social media presence?
We grew The Fattened Caf’s social media following organically by staying true to our story, engaging with our community, and making people feel like they were part of our journey. From day one, we shared behind-the-scenes moments—late nights making longganisa, the struggles of running a pop-up, and the joy of seeing people try Filipino food for the first time. We didn’t just post food pics; we told stories, shouted out our supporters, and made sure every comment and message was answered like we were talking to a friend. Collaborations with local businesses and influencers also helped, but it was word-of-mouth and authentic connections that really built our following. People could see our passion, our hustle, and our love for Filipino flavors—and they wanted to be part of it.
How did you put together the initial capital you needed to start your business?
The Fattened Caf was built on passion, hustle, and strategic funding, starting with the $1000 Balsa Grant then a $5000 follow on grant, which helped us buy a 1600 lbs smoker on a trailer that grew our production beyond a pop-up. From there, we secured support from UMSL DEI’s accelerator program, which not only provided funding but also mentorship and business development resources that helped us refine our vision. As we scaled, we took our pitch game seriously, and competed in a funding competition. That work paid off when we won the Arch Grant, a game-changer that allowed us to expand into multiple anchor locations like WashU and Energizer Park as well as get our products into grocery stores. Eventually a brick-and-mortar location became a reality.
We leveraged the resources within our community and in this city. We are grateful that this city has supported us from day 1 and helped us get here.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://Thefattenedcaf.com
- Instagram: Thefattenedcaf
- Facebook: The Fattened Caf
- Yelp: The Fattened Caf
Image Credits
Tyler Small, Mabel Suen