Eng Bee Tin was established in 1912 along Ongpin Street in
Binondo,
Manila by Chua Chiu Hong, a migrant from
mainland China whose family decided to reside in the Philippines. The business started as a small stall. In the 1970s, many stores selling Chinese delicacies competed with Eng Bee Tin and investors were reluctant to support the deli chain. Chua Chiu Hong's grandson, Gerry Chua resolved the business' financial difficulties when he took over the family business in 1987 He also developed a grinding process of making hopia from the root crop as well as a technique to make the food product creamier. The hopia variant was created after Gerry Chua asked a saleslady of a supermarket about their bestselling ice cream flavor and the woman replied that it was ube. He went to
Pampanga to learn how to work with halayang ube and developed the ube-flavored hopia. He attempted to introduce the ube hopia abroad but initial reception was poor. However, Eng Bee Tin eventually received orders from abroad. Locally, ube hopia was well received when Eng Bee Tin introduced it. According to the Chua family, the business of Eng Bee Tin significantly improved when the store's product, hopia ube, was featured in an episode of the television show
Citiline by
Cory Quirino. After the television feature, the store originally named Eng Bee Tin Hopia Factory was renamed to its current name as it began to sell other products besides hopia. ==Products==