Brewing the Business
Coffee businesses have their own stories to tell
By Anne dela Cruz

The National Coffee Development Board’s Kape Isla cooperative marketing program promoting Philippine coffee was started last year. The program now has a membership of 22 of the country’s finest coffee merchants. Three member companies tell their stories of entrepreneurship.

Monks’ Blend

Three years ago, Aimee Frias and her husband vacationed in Cagayan de Oro City in Mindanao.

On that trip, Frias was served locally grown coffee. That was her first encounter with Monks’ Blend.

One of the first things that attracted Frias to Monks’ Blend was its aroma. Also, the taste was comparable to that being served in leading coffee shops in Manila. “I decided to bring a few packs of Monks’ Blend back to Manila for my officemates,” she said. “They really liked the taste so that made me think of ways to bring in the product and sell on a regular basis.”

Monks’ Blend – a fusion of the Arabica and Robusta coffee beans – is a product of the Monastery of Transfiguration based in Bukidnon. Since 1991, coffee processing has become part of the monk community’s effort to remain self-sufficient.

The monks’ coffee factory is equipped with multi-capacity German Probat roasters and is capable of producing five tons of ground coffee a month. Drying and storage is done at the monastery’s spacious, well-equipped barn donated by Germany’s Diocese of Stuttgart and Rottenburg.

“Bukidnon has the most ideal conditions for coffee growing because of the mountain soil, high altitude, cool climate, adequate rainfall, and typhoon-free conditions,” Frias said. “That, I think, differentiates Monks’ Blend from the other brands.”

Her little business with Monks’ Blend started picking up, but Frias was still unhappy over a personal circumstance – the loss of her child who was born a blue baby three years ago. She longed to have children and during her visits to the Monastery in Bukidnon, she would seek solace with the monks. The monks advised her to pray continuously so that her wish would be granted.

In 2001, Frias’ wish finally came true. She became pregnant and later gave birth to a very healthy baby girl. She decided to help the monks market their coffee as a way of saying thank you for the blessing that she had received.

Her officemates continued to order from her and she was able to get their office canteen to display her coffee for sale.

After much thought, Frias made the big decision to leave the telecommunications firm she had worked with for so many years and do the business full time. She formed Amarich Marketing International and became the distributor of Monk’s Blend in the country.

When she incorporated, Frias was able to persuade Landmark super market to try out Monks’ Blend for a month. Landmark finally agreed, but Frias had to do everything herself. She delivered the stocks, arranged them on the shelves, and monitored sales on a regular basis.
“I noticed that Monks’ Blend was doing alright at Landmark so they decided to increase their orders,” Frias said. “That encouraged me to try my luck in other major supermarkets.”

She admits though that distributing Monks’ Blend is not a money-making venture for now because she is just starting out and learning her way through the business. “It’s more of a labor of love and my way of saying thank you for all the blessings the monks have brought to me and my family,” she said.

Siete Baracos

While he was pursuing and completing his degree in dentistry back in the 1970s, Dr. Amado Silva decided to take over his father’s coffee business. The first thing Silva did was to develop his own brand of coffee.

“The coffee my father was growing was integrated into the instant coffee of Nescafe,” he said. “I felt it was time that the business had its own brandname.”

Siete Baracos was born, representing Silva and his six sons. Silva gets his coffee not only from his farm but also sources other coffee beans from Mataas na Kahoy – also in Batangas – the area that supposedly provides the best Barako or Liberica beans in the country. “Batangas is known for its Barako coffee and we grow the best Liberica beans because of the good climate and the volcanic soil in the area,” Silva said.

After much experimentation, Silva managed to come up with his Batangas Barako in 1977. Since his wife, who is also a dentist, was having a hard time putting up a clinic when they moved to Muntinlupa in Manila, they put up a small store that they called Bayanan Delicacy Center.

“We put up that store some time in 1973 to sell Pampanga and Bulacan delicacies,” he said. “When my wife’s clinic wasn’t picking up, we decided to concentrate on selling our coffee.”

To reach a wider market, Silva decided to bring his coffee to the supermarkets. At that time, Unimart was the biggest supermarket so he tried to market Batangas Barako there in 1978. It was a good time, since there was indeed a growing market for brewed coffee. However, coffee products that were available then were all imported brands. Batangas Barako was probably be the first locally produced coffee beans to be sold in the market.

Batangas Barako had to first get the approval of the Bureau of Food and Drugs, and improve its packaging before Unimart finally accepted its offer to carry it. Soon after, Batangas Barako was also accepted in Queen’s Supermarket. Silva also managed to get his coffee served in hotels like Manila Midtown Hotel.

In 1982, Silva came out with his second product – 3 in 1 coffee made of Arabica, Liberica, and Robusta. Silva said this particular product makes use of less Barako and more Arabica beans. “Arabica is more aromatic but not so tasteful while Robusta is used more for instant coffee.”

Still not satisfied with his product lines, Silva came up with another product in 1986. The product, which he called Brew Master, is made up of Barako and Arabica beans. The prices of his products range from P40 to P150 depending on the kind and weight of the product.

To date, Silva continues to maintain his coffee business on a small scale. “My children are the ones who help me in the business,” Silva said. “So that’s why there hasn’t been a need for me to hire too many people.”

Merlo Coffee

Coffee is just one of the products of Merlo Agricultural Corporation. It is also into swine production and into the distribution of veterinary medicine.

“It’s a family enterprise that was incorporated in 1978. Merlo comes from the surnames of my mother and father,” said Yasmin Mercado-Aspili, marketing head of Merlo. “We started out in coffee but because of the dwindling supply and demand, we had to look for other products to sustain the business.”

When Merlo was starting out in the business, the Philippines was still a big exporter of coffee. Aspili recalled that there was a time when Merlo was exporting up to nine containers of coffee a month.

“During those times, we had about 8.5 hectares of land planted to coffee and that produced about ten tons of coffee per month,” she said. “That was in the 1980s but when the 1990s came in, coffee was not a viable product anymore.”

Even if Merlo decided to diversify into other products, Aspili said they continued with their coffee business and were able to come up with several kinds of coffee blends to suit everyone’s taste.

“Each pack of ground coffee that we manufacture is a product of hard work backed by years of experience in coffee making,” Aspili said. “Each coffee bean is handpicked and processed under a high standard of excellence and quality.”

Merlo’s coffee beans are also sourced in Batangas, in Pinagtung-ulan, Lipa City where the first coffee tree in the Philippines was supposedly planted.

While they are content with the way their coffee business has been going, Aspili said Merlo will start concentrating on its customized blends. In fact, it has developed its Expresso Blend, which is a combination of coffee beans formulated for brewing in an espresso machine to produce specialty coffee beverages.

“With so many coffee shops sprouting, we feel that this is the best direction to go,” she said. “In fact, we already have customers who have asked us to develop their own blend of coffee which will be sold and served by them.”

Aspili added that they are also looking at ways to improve their packaging so that the coffee becomes more cost effective.

“Our coffee is available in all leading supermarkets and we are coming up with more innovative packages so that we can attract more customers,” Aspili said.