Our Story

Our story begins with two entrepreneurs who met through their love of lumpia in 2021. Vera Jones, a local realtor from KW, and the Search Houses Now Team met Josie Schuette at the opening of her Filipino restaurant Ku-ma-in in Champlin, MN. 

They created a fun event for the community to share and launched the Minnesota Lumpia Festival in 2023. The event, designed to engage the community, includes local business vendors, shops, food trucks, live music, and the first-ever lumpia eating contest hosted in Minnesota and featured on WCCO. This event attracts the local community and encourages people from all over Minnesota to participate in this fun day. As Vera would call it, it's genuinely a 'Family Day 2.0 kind of day!'

Josie and Vera share the heritage of being Filipino women. However, they have entirely different backgrounds and history. Josie was born in Minnesota and grew up in South Minneapolis, where her passion for marketing and cooking eventually led her to create a startup Filipino food truck. 

Vera's journey is equally inspiring. She immigrated from Manila, Phillippines in 1984, became a citizen, and grew up on the East Side of St. Paul. A natural artist with an entrepreneurial spirit, she has ventured into beauty, arts, and service and recently became a published author. Her latest endeavor is a home service business that emphasizes curating a stylish, organized, and peaceful home.

Their love for family, food, and community has greatly impacted Minnesota! The Minnesota Lumpia Festival is a free event that continues to serve and give back to their local community through food, service, and connections.