Meet Justin Mabunay | Owner/Executive Chef URBN Market Fusion

We had the good fortune of connecting with Justin Mabunay and we’ve shared our conversation below.

Hi Justin, what was your thought process behind starting your own business?
This is something that actually changed throughout the course of my 15 year professional cooking career. At 1st it was to be my own boss and gain prestige for my food and become rich and famous. Now it is to be my own boss and have an Avenue to share my cuisine and help others that want to break into the industry as well. The plan has always been to own my own business in the food industry field and that I’ll do that I know I’ll be doing pop UPS and have a food truck on the way. The popularity doesn’t matter to me as much anymore just just me feeling blessed to be able to share my food with everyone is what makes this a dream for me.

Let’s talk shop? Tell us more about your career, what can you share with our community?
I think what sets my flavors apart from anyone else’s is that my flavors are literally me on a plate. I was born in Oceanside CA, so a typical Cali kid with deep roots in my Filipino Culture. I am just guy that serves Modern Asian American Fusion food and sharing all the Asian flavors I love fused with all my experiences cooking so many different types of American Cuisine. The dream has always been to own my own restaurant one day and come present time what my family and I want was to put our familys time first so owning a mobile popup restaurant and soon to be food truck was the thing that appealed to what we wanted in our lives. The goal has shifted from making a product that makes as much money as we can to just being able making a living and being able to share our flavors with as many as possible, it really is a different type of Joy.

Any places to eat or things to do that you can share with our readers? If they have a friend visiting town, what are some spots they could take them to?
We have our go to’s when it comes to bringing our friends around. First off since we are in Southern California and everyone is on the Birria train we have our spot Tacos and Beer in Hemet. We also usually hit up the Hat in Murrieta for our Pastrami Fix and the proverbial In and Out trip especially for our Eastern friends and out of country visitors. I personally love bowling so I try and drag everyone out for a couple games, maybe some golf, and we especially love bingo at pechanga. Definitely though our hangouts are based around food and whatever aging midlife crisis Milennials like to do!

Shoutout is all about shouting out others who you feel deserve additional recognition and exposure. Who would you like to shoutout?
I would like to dedicate this shout out 2 Matthew curry of Tisoys Curryative Cuisines for recommending me for the interview and all of our InvAZN Crew. We are a local group of entrepenuers that want to become a source for new food startups as well as a cultural group to raise awareness of our different ethnicities. I would also like to thank all my friends and family for always being so supportive of my endeavors even thought it might not be a traditional thing to do when you have a home and a family to provide for! I’d like to thank my wife Melori Mabunay for always supporting me even though I can see the fear in your eyes for us taking such a big risk. I’d like to thank our BFF Eifeh Strom with helping us out not only with the business but with just being a part of our family and bring the best auntie to our kids Jacob and Joshua. Lastly I would like to thr my parents and my inlaws for supporting us not on financially but emotional as we take this scary journey that is our Dream!

Website: Www.urbnmarketfusion.com

Instagram: Urbnmarketfusion

Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/justin-mabunay-40a1bab0

Twitter: Urbnmarket

Facebook: Urbnmarketfusion