Rico’s Lechon, along with 12 other Philippine companies, won awards from the recently concluded Asia-Pacific Stevie Awards held in Tokyo, Japan on June 2.

Cebu-based Rico’s Lechon brought home the Silver Award for Asia-Pacific Stevie’s Innovation in Media Relations for its nationwide campaign #DaBestGyud. The lechon house is the only awardee that is not based in Metro Manila.

Rico’s Sales and Marketing head Jeff Walther Oyas said that their 2016 #DaBestGyud campaign was inspired by the idea of Rico’s Lechon being hailed as “Cebu’s best lechon,” but with a Cebuano accent added to it.

“We wanted to capitalize that tagline and at the same time add a Cebuano accent to the campaign, so instead of ‘the best lechon’ we used ‘DaBestGyud’,” Oyas told the local media.

On top of making their tagline as their motivation to prepare only the best lechon for their customers, Oyas said that they also used it as a “mindset to our employees to strive always to be the best.”

He called the Stevie award a “great honor” not only for Rico’s Lechon but for the Philippines as well.

Oyas said the campaign propelled them to improve the interiors of the Rico’s Lechon restaurants, added more variety to their menu, used standardized recipes and boosted manpower. It also pushed for the restaurant’s expansion, with two new branched opened in Escario in Cebu City and another in Mactan, Lapu-lapu City. The original restaurant was opened in Mabolo, Cebu City. Another Rico’s Lechon branch is being planned in Cebu’s southern part.

CEO and founder Enrico Dionson said that all he wanted was to provide the best tasting lechon without having dreamed of getting international recognition.

“I never thought nga modako kay gusto ra nako nga molami akong lechon,” he said.

Dionson said that his restaurant sells 150 lechons daily, including those that are delivered outside Cebu.

The Asia-Pacific Stevie Awards are the world’s premier business award that honor the achievements of any of the organizations in the 22 countries in the Asia-Pacific region.