Writer’s Note: I have known Aaron Que for five years in my professional capacity as a journalist. I have since listened to him talk before an audience and heard about how kind he is even in private conversations and in off-social media dealings. A post by Sir Benny Que, his uncle and boss, motivated me to write about him. In our home classroom, my children and I study inspiring entrepreneurs such as John Gokongwei and Julie Gandionco. I didn’t realize until I finished writing Aaron’s story that my children can learn about business and sustainability from young leaders like Aaron Que. I decided to write this for “UNMASKED: The COMCO Mundo Write to Ignite Season 3” to deliver the message that young people like Aaron need not wait for the future to come so they can lead. Today is the best time to make a difference to bring about genuine change.
CEBU CITY — It would have been a no-brainer for Aaron Jeremy Que to stay in New Zealand and enjoy the comforts of first-world living.
After all, he graduated with a degree in Business and Information Management from The University of Auckland in 2009 and practically grew up in the City of Sails where he also spent his high school years in Macleans College.
But Aaron answered a call greater than himself to come home to Cebu in the later part of 2010 and co-lead the growth of a fledgling hotel brand that the Que family owns.
The 34-year-old currently serves as the Executive Vice President of Golden Prince Hotel and Suites (and its sister property, Golden Valley Hotel) alongside the guidance of his Uncle Benny, who sits as President and Chief Executive Officer.
Opened in 2006, Golden Prince was a low-key hotel known among government agencies as a venue-to-be for workshops and conferences.
But it was only after 10 years when the hotel catapulted to its current reputation as a “haven of Cebuano hospitality” as the management worked on refurbishing and upgrading the hotel rooms, creating a homey ambiance for their dining areas and restaurant, and retooling and hiring talented and passionate individual to take care of kitchen duties as well as front office and housekeeping operations and administrative duties.
LeMon’s well-curated dishes and affordable buffet is known among locals and balikbayans. Its Kabilin Heritage Lounge offers Cebuano merienda buffet at an affordable rate and truly exudes genuine Sugbu-anun spirit.
Aaron’s contributions in the growth of Golden Prince from a plain hotel to a destination for learning and relaxation is undoubtedly remarkable for a young leader in his early 30s.
Fueling Cebu tourism
The uncle-nephew tandem that Aaron has with Benny took meaningful strides in Cebu’s business community notably under the auspices of Cebu Chamber and Commerce Industry (CCCI) which they serve in various capacities.
Aaron was already doing significant work for CCCI as co-chair of the tourism committee in the chamber’s Cebu Business Month (CBM) when Benny was the CBM Chairperson in 2018.
Aaron played significant roles in staging two seasons of the extremely exhausting but ultimately rewarding Lumba’g Laag sa Sugbo.
Lumba’g Laag sa Sugbo is a race to explore various attractions in Cebu with each participating team completing a task in one town before moving on to the next destination.
The race has redefined the concept of CCCI’s CBM as a gathering that only happened mostly indoors. Aaron, alongside formidable leaders such as Edwin Ortiz and the late Edilbert Mendoza, literally brought out the best in the Cebuanos with this never-before organized race.
While it may be overreaching to declare that Lumba’g Laag revitalized local tourism and invigorated interests in domestic tourism, it is without any shed of doubt that the time, effort, and resources that Aaron put in for an endeavor as herculean as Lumba’g Laag sa Sugbo has set the standards on how tourism initiatives should be carried out.
Urban farming
Aaron’s leadership brought in more milestones for Golden Prince and his career as hotelier, marketer, and motivational speaker.
But it was in the midst of the Covid-19 pandemic that his innovativeness and creativity found a sweet spot.
Fresh from their learnings in Lumba’g Laag sa Sugbo and the inspiration from fellow entrepreneur Rey Calooy, who became a close friend, the uncle-nephew explored the idea of building an urban farm within the high-rise property.
The inspiration also came from their employees who stayed in the hotel during the pandemic lockdown.
Aaron called them the “natural green thumbs” who planted vegetables at the designated outdoor rest area. The vegetables they harvested from the small garden were consumed by the employees.
“We wanted to explore this further so during our brainstorming sessions, we realized that shifting our focus to agriculture is very important. Because people need to eat, the best way is to produce our own food,” said Aaron.
But this can be a lofty goal to reach. Can a city hotel truly make this possible?
The answer is a resounding “yes” but it required hiring a technical team. It also meant making a commitment to truly sustain an urban farm because there is a need to fulfill and not just a want to satiate. Lastly, there is the primordial ingredient called “money” to fund the idea of an urban farm.
Aaron created a conducive environment where all of these elements seamlessly came together.
While most of the world hit the pause button because of the coronavirus, Aaron was one of those who continued to explore and study what can be done to achieve zero hunger which falls under Sustainable Development Goal Number 2.
At the height of the pandemic, Golden Prince received several proposals relating to the establishment of their future garden.
But it was only in the fourth quarter of 2021 that they started The Golden Prince’s Hydroponics Project as they planted the Invicta lettuce variety.
Surrounded by a technical team and “green thumbs” as employees, Aaron continued the project with the guidance of Benny.
Hardwork does pay off because the first 50 kilos of lettuce from their urban farm was harvested on the day Typhoon Odette ravaged Cebu!
Eternal spring of inspiration
The hydroponics project of Golden Prince Hotel is the first rooftop garden facility in Cebu that was inspired by their advocacy to champion food security and food sustainability.
The fresh lettuce harvested from the urban garden goes to the hotel’s salad station at buffet tables. Fresh lettuce is also a favorite item in the ala carte menu for health-conscious guests.
Aaron admits that an urban farm can be an expensive investment. However, he emphasized that the benefits of having an urban farm outweighs the initial investment. The key is close management and proper monitoring of the urban farm.
“With 2,000 lettuce heads being harvested per month or about 500 heads per week, we can save about approximately Php 20,000 a month compared to buying from a third party supplier in which the price fluctuates almost every day,” he shared.
Aaron never runs out of inspiration.
He is an eternal well-spring of hope and innovation.
The success of their rooftop garden/urban farm led to the establishment of another venture: Q Farm Agri-Tech Ventures.
Up in the mountain barangay of Cambinocot in Cebu City lies the Q Farm where chilies, root crops, bananas and other vegetables and fruit-bearing trees abound.
Some of the crops harvested there are integrated.in the hotel menu. These crops are mixed with dishes such as sisig , banana turon, binignit (similar to sweet ginataan), and tinola.
“The long-term goal is that whatever food is being served in our buffet will have to come from Q Farm. Cebu is one of the most populated cities in the Philippines. We believe that we should be able to provide our own food coming from our very own province/towns or even mountain barangays,” he said.
A progressive city and province like Cebu should live and breathe sustainability, according to Aaron.
He said a concerted effort among various stakeholders of Cebu to invest in agriculture can lead to Cebu’s self-sufficiency or at least a decreased dependence on other regions for food.
As Golden Prince basks in the glory of being the first hotel in Cebu City to operate an urban farm, Aaron also goes out and participates in workshops, exhibitions, trade fairs, and conferences to spread the word.
Exposure to agriculture and learning more about cacao also led to the formation of the Philippine Chocolate Company (PHILCHOCO) where Aaron is an active messenger of the good news brought by farming and agriculture.
In the recent Coffee and Cacao Expo 2023 that was held at Ayala Center Cebu, Aaron stood in front of a distinguished audience and without any form of hesitation encouraged them to invest in cacao.
Benny said Aaron spoke without stammering and passionately shared about how projects can be possible when people come together to share ideas and learn more about farming.
What was most inspiring in his speech was his call for the younger generation, in which he belongs, to consider a career in agriculture.
Instead of pitching the projects that he and his team developed at PHILCHOCO, Aaron offered tips and encouragement on how individuals and companies can transform their idle lots into productive farms.
Aaron is involved in many projects and ventures including Philippine Inno Ventures Agriculture Cooperative (PIVAC) which is also active in many agriculture-focused initiatives.
He works tirelessly, knowing that everything he does in the present can seriously affect the future of those who will come after him.
But he does not brag, always choosing to deflect attention from himself to the team that he works with.
In one of the seasons of Lumba’g Laag sa Sugbo five years ago where this writer had the chance to listen to Aaron talk, the young transformational leader shared his realizations about Cebu being a unique destination for tourism and agriculture.
He was brimming with optimism then.
He has since gone out of his way to transform that optimism into projects which truly benefits communities by giving the locals opportunities to be employed while elevating Cebu’s agricultural sector, culinary heritage, and vibrant tourism.
Aaron’s Linkedin profile notes that he is a hotelier and marketer.
But Aaron is more than just those labels.
He is a shining example to young people that the time for the youth to take on the cudgels of leadership is now. The youth is not the hope of the future; the youth is the present’s strongest driving force for progress and sustainable development.
Aaron Que is the urban farmer that cultivates that culture.
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This story is an entry to COMCO Mundo’s “UNMASKED: The COMCO Mundo Write to Ignite Season 3”. The initiative aims to pull and collate powerful stories from the Philippine blogging communities. “UNMASKED” aims to explore how each mask is a person brimming with hope and wonders to share with others, as well as why it is important to tell their inspiring journeys in life. The “Write to Ignite” Season 3 is made possible by COMCO Mundo League of Enterprises, with airasia, Babyflo, PHILUSA Corporation, Century Tuna, Licealiz, Lamoiyan Corporation, Rémy Martin, and Uratex Monoblock as brand partners.
