Chef Hasset Go: A Short Blogiography

Chef Hasset Go grew up in Oroquieta City in Misamis Occidental with his mom and two brothers. He is the middle child of three. Being a single mom, her mother had to find other ways to earn for their family aside from being an employee during daytime.

Fortunately, his mom knows how to bake. And so she was able to use this skill to supply cakes and baked goodies to canteens and offices in their hometown. And the young Hasset, she will fondly recall to us during our interview, was her right-hand assistant.

This is how the story of Chef Hasset Go, the Sweets Master, begins.

Growing up from a broken family was never easy. Hasset told us that he had to stand up on his own at a very young age. He had to sell his own creations such as brownies, pastillas and yema to his classmates and teachers just to have his allowance. But this hardship, he recounts, is what made him the successful chef and entrepreneur that he is today.

Hasset never went to college. Right after high school, he went to Manila to study at the Heny Sison Culinary School to pursue his passion for baking and cooking. This is where he met his mentors Chef Ed Quimson and Chef Jane Paredes who advised him to start a commissary first before putting up his own shop or restaurant.

When he finally got his certificate, that’s when he started to bake his own cakes and pastries and supply to coffee shops and restaurants in Quezon City. He used to do his creations in a small kitchen in a small apartment where he used to live. Time came when he can no longer cope with the growing demands for his products and that’s when he started to think of taking in a partner who will help him grown his venture.

MedChef was coined from the words Medical Technologist and Chef. His business partner, Jayson Carlos, was a medical technologist by profession. Jayson was Chef Hasset’s friend from church who also used to resell his cakes and pastries to friends and officemates. He invested PhP50,000 to Chef Hasset Go’s business and that’s how MedChef was born.

This year, 2012, MedChef is going to celebrate its second year anniversary. Since it was founded, Chef Hasset’s life never became the same again. Aside from helping his own family, he is also now an employer to 15 workers in his business. For the past few years, he was receiving prestigious awards such as the Young Achiever for Culinary by Global Excellence. Also recently, he was named as one of the Top 50 Young Entrepreneurs by Go Negosyo.

Despite the many successes he had attained, Chef Hasset Go never failed to look back. Every weekend, he will fly to Mindanao to teach aspiring bakers and pastry chefs at the Culinary Institute of Cagayan de Oro. From time to time, he will also share his story to students during career events to encourage them to pursue their passion to succeed in life. In all that he had achieved, is achieving and will achieve, Chef Hasset never fails to thank God as the source of his blessings and inspiration.

-Mediactiv8 Team