Veloria’s Squid Rings

Susana Veloria-Vistar never thought the squid rings business she started in 1974 would grow this big. She only registered “Veloria’s Squid Rings” in 1985 as a single proprietorship business and today she employs 15 workers and supplies major pasalubong centers in Bacolod City.

Aside from Veloria’s, there are other producers of Squid Rings in Sagay City since it’s the city’s One Town One Product. When asked what’s her secret, Ms. Vistar said there’s really no secret to making squid rings but what differentiates Veloria’s from other squid rings is the freshness of their squids. They are located near the port area of Brgy. Old Sagay thus they have access to the freshest squids.

Cooking squid rings is really simple. The squids are first cleaned and cut into rings. Drained for a few minutes and mix with batter usually made of flour, eggs, milk and seasoning. The squid rings are then deep fried. Veloria’s still uses the old method in cooking squid rings, by using a large cooking vat (kawa) over a wood-fired concrete oven.

The Veloria family is quite humble despite the success of their business. If there was any indication of that success, perhaps, it’s in the family compound itself where their factory is located. You might say these are houses which are built on hard work and “Katas ng Squid Rings.”