Before COVID, it looked like Brian Webb had a solid business plan for Phx Lechon Roasters a vendor we touched on in August while diving into the Valley s under-the-radar Filipino cooking scene. Webb had regular gigs at farmers markets, along with large-scale events and scores of people lining up for mouth-watering slices of lechon or whole spit-roasted pig.
The pandemic eliminated these opportunities for lechon, but Webb continued to connect with Filipino families and other communities who wanted to celebrate with a whole roast pig and locally made Filipino food.
Last month, Phx Lechon Roasters sold out of whole pigs for Christmas. Webb says he even had a customer from Canada who ordered a whole lechon for her parents in Tempe. “I ve been selling a lot of whole pigs to Latinos, people from Mexico. A lot of Puerto Ricans,” Webb says. “The pig really transfers over to so many different cultures. Everybody loves the pig. Not everybody makes it.”