We recently connected with Fernan Sunglao and have shared our conversation below.

Hi Fernan, thanks for joining us today. So, naming is such a challenge. How did you come up with the name of your brand?

People always ask me this and ask how to pronounce the name of our brand so I finally want to explain.

In 2020 during quarantine I cooked a lot of home cooked meals and took pictures on Instagram of food I’ve made during the pandemic. I made a highlight collection of all the food pics I had and named it “FÜD”, my take on spelling “food”. After creating that highlight collection on my feed I thought of other words you can use in that spelling because the “Ü” reminded me of a happy face. So GÜD (good) and MÜD (mood) came to mind and I typed it out and GÜDMÜDFÜD was born. I didn’t really think nothing of the name after that but thought it would always be cool to keep in mind. After getting an opportunity to do our first pop up and coming up with approach we were aiming for, the name fit well for what we wanted to serve which was comfort food to uplift the community during the pandemic. So I decided to name our food project “GÜDMÜDFÜD” but pronounced “good mood food”. The name kind of stuck and we grew into our identity and we feel like we can do a lot of creative branding for future projects with our brand name and gives us our own identity.

Also to those that say that’s not how it sounds when you spell it out that way; I always have taken that into consideration. Our food is based off comfort street foods that make people happy. The “Ü” just symbolizes a happy face which fits the theme of our brand.

Hope that answers everyones questions!

Great, appreciate you sharing that with us. Before we ask you to share more of your insights, can you take a moment to introduce yourself and how you got to where you are today to our readers

Hey everyone, I am Fernan Sunglao. I am the founder and a partner of GÜDMÜDFÜD which is a pop up food stand. We also are doing private dinners and catering private events as well. Our vision is to someday have our own restaurant and share our vision of food with everyone in our city and to leave an impact in this fast evolving food scene locally. Right now we’re doing pop ups at local businesses and market style events. We started this concept during the pandemic during quarantine as me and my partners couldn’t work due to the major impact Covid caused to the hospitality industry. Our focus for GÜDMÜDFÜD is creating our style of comfort foods and street foods. We like to create fusion foods incorporating various cultures, unique flavors, and different techniques into our dishes we serve out.

Food and the food industry is so broad because everyone has to eat and everyone has their own sense of taste and views on food. There’s also so many different type of restaurant and eateries everywhere. What we try to strive for is to stay in our own lane and stay true to ourselves and that stems from our childhood experiences to our current experiences with food and to create new concepts that tie that together. We like to show our heritage in our dishes to honor our upbringings and to put our. twists on foods that we grew up with and love. Hopefully we can build on the culture we’re trying to create when it comes to our brand because I want it to be more impactful than just a food brand or restaurant.

I can’t thank my team enough for making GÜDMÜDFÜD for what it is today. We really had no clue what this concept would become and kind of let this brand take us on this journey. I am very proud of the hard work and commitment we put into this brand while working other jobs and balancing life. To see the growth we’ve made as individuals and as a group makes everything worth it. To see how much we grew and evolved within this past year makes our dreams of having our own restaurant realistic and gives us motivation to keep grinding and keep evolving as a brand.

Some of our signature dishes is our Smashed Wagyu Burgers on Ube milk buns, Ube Philly Cheesesteak, Kare Kare Bun Bao, and Sisig Nachos. We’ve also served out rice bowls, Sinigang Fries, wings, various types of fusion sandwiches and breakfast/brunch foods, and we now do yakitori skewers. We like to share our creativity and love into our dishes and we hope our food puts everyone in a “good mood”. We also change our menus every time to give the community something new or different each time. Our goal is to have a restaurant one day to scale out our vision and creations so everyone can try our food.

How’d you build such a strong reputation within your market?

Starting this concept we always wanted to push ideas and foods that we didn’t really see available so we wanted to fill the void of fast casual food, street food , and comfort food but putting more of an elevated flare into it either by the flavors we use or techniques we use to create the dish. I feel like the creativity we put into our menus helped us grow our brand as it attracted new customers and clients. We just wanted to be different and create our own style of food that people would want to experience.

We also wanted to grow this brand organically and create ties with our communities. Starting this brand during the pandemic, we popped up in various areas of our city to share our food and energy through our events. We’re proud of the city we’re from and also our Filipino heritage.

I would also credit the amazing local businesses we collaborated within this past year and a half for giving me us a platform to showcase our food with their audiences and community. We also collaborated with a lot of talented chefs as well so it makes me proud to share a platform with so many talented entrepreneurs and creatives. We respect everyone and there are so many dope local businesses that inspire us. Surrounding ourselves and working with these businesses only motivate us more to keep forging our own way.

Can you tell us the story behind how you met your business partner?

I met Inno at this Japanese BBQ Restaurant we were working at and we were both new in the restaurant industry too. By growing and working in the same kitchen with eachother we formed a good working relationship and chemistry. I always respected him and knew he was someone I’d want to work with again in the future. His positive energy and humor made it easy for me to get along with him and it’s always a good vibe to be around him. To see where we both started to how far we progressed is something I’ll always be proud of and cherish. To see how talented he’s become from the first shift we worked together is amazing. I’m happy it came full circle for us and now share our own business together and proud he’s created his own business and getting his hands in various projects and creating a name for himself in this industry.

I’ve known Teddy for years. Our older sisters are close friends so we kind of always knew about eachother but we finally got to know eachother when he hired me at the very same restaurant I met Inno. As being my boss, I always respected and appreciated the mentorship and guidance he provided me while I was new to the scene. We always had a great working relationship and is someone I can always trust and that always looks out for me. So for him giving me an opportunity and helping me progress throughout the years, it’s only right that I wanted him apart of this business. Hopefully we make our sisters proud!

I met Randy in Elementary school. Growing up in Paradise Hills, we went to the same schools up all the way until graduating from Morse High School. Having someone you known for years is important to have on your side while running a business because it’s someone you’re familiar with and trust. He also shares similar yet different ideas that make me excited to work on as we progress as a business. To have someone you’ve known since childhood to be apart of your journey to accomplish the same goals is rare and I’m glad to have him around

Contact Info:

• Instagram: GUDMUDFUD_