by Jae Siqueiros
The origin of Inday’s Restaurant started with a friendly neighborhood cookout 20 years ago after Ethel “Inday” Geiger emigrated from the Philippines to Chico.
Her deep craving for traditional Filipino meals was so persistent that she started preparing them at home with her husband, John Geiger.
Traditionally, Filipino homes have multiple generations living in a household. Adults often care for their aging parents while raising their own children. As a result, preparing large meals has been a regular occurrence for Inday Geiger.
To deal with hoards of leftovers, the Geigers started weekend neighborhood cookouts to share her culture, traditions and, most importantly, her food.
“All of our neighbors and their kids would hang out outside and eat my food and they would say ‘oh my god, you should sell this!’… and then a hobby became a job,” Inday said.