Venchito Tampon

How to Write Your Cafe Mission and Vision Statements

One of the crucial success factors of starting a coffee shop is establishing a cafe mission and vision that is relevant and practical for people working in the coffee shop business.

In this article, I’ll give you practical ways to create your cafe mission and vision and turn it into reality by regularly communicating it to your employees.

Let’s get started.

Why Your Coffee Shop Needs a Mission and Vision Statement? 

Most business owners, in general, think that mission and vision statements are ‘cliche' and are a waste of time.

But the reality is an organization's mission and vision statement significantly impact the lives of people working for it. It resembles how employees engage in their jobs and how they can be more successful in their field of work, whether as a barista or finance assistant.

Here are some compelling reasons why you need to craft or communicate your cafe mission and vision statement: 

1. It gives direction to your business. 

In the fast-changing times where the cafe business and cafe franchise operate today, many more distractions might affect the focus of the cafe owner and their entire team. 

That said, the vision and mission statement direct the team's direction.

With it, they may do their daily work and find it exciting to work on the same routine tasks/jobs. 

The mission and vision fire up employees, knowing that they don’t have to be excellent at work to pay their bills but instead go to another level of doing something that matters to others. This means they’re sending payroll reports to their employees (as HR assistants) or being on the front line, brewing coffee - all these work contribute to the entire organization’s mission of impacting the community.

2. It sets the cafe apart from its competitors.

Branding refers to unique differentiation. If you can find the unique characteristics of your products, then you have a branding worth sharing.

What would give you better branding is very internal - your cafe mission and vision statement. This is the core of everything you do. 

The main reason why vision and mission set you apart is the unique impact you can create on other people’s lives. For the most part, the vision could be very personal to the founders themselves. 

It may relate to their personal stories or something in their lives that they want to impart to their customers. 

So, it is not a cliche statement but a form of core values the organization embodies. 

Further Reading: 11 Coffee Shop Promotional Ideas

3. It guides you in hiring the right talents. 

Every cafe will have to hire employees in every stage of its existence. 

Particularly, if you’re opening your store, you want your first set of employees (pioneers) to be the ones who will collectively possess the correct values you want for the organization.

That goes with the values and mission the entire team must pursue daily in their field. This is advantageous for starting teams to identify which job applicant will be the best fit based on the culture they’ve set (“culture fit”).

Culture fit enables cafe teams to work in harmony and teamwork - making it a solid organization that addresses operational issues and serves customers at the highest level (“customer experience”).

Difference Between Cafe Mission and Vision Statement 

The vision statement of your cafe is what your organization wants to become (it focuses entirely on tomorrow). At the same time, your mission statement is what an organization does to achieve your ‘vision’ - targets on your current actions today.

It’s as simple as that. 

So, let’s go to how you craft your cafe mission and vision statement. 

How to Write Your Coffee Shop Vision Statement? 

Your vision statement must reflect the future of your cafe - what your coffee shop wants to become. 

In my local coffee shop, Hills & Valleys Cafe, we (Me and Adrianne De Guzman) crafted our vision statement: 

Hills & Valleys Cafe Vision Statement:

“To be the most loved and respected coffee brand in Bulacan, delivering premium quality yet affordable coffee, friendly customer care, and a vibrant in-store experience.”

Why this vision statement works:

• It is specific in location (achievable). We only want to be the most respected coffee shop in Bulacan. 
• Intangible. Though vision must be tangible in numbers, we want to lean more towards our customers. “Most loved” could be measured in both quality and quantity. Quality in terms of the customer experience they have in our stores. Amount in terms of monthly sales we generate each month. 
• Unique differentiation - branding. Our branding mainly focuses on targeting mid-level customers. This means that we offer premium quality yet affordable. Among coffee shops in the Philippines, most would target high-level customers, those who can pay more than 160 pesos per cup, while others would target low-income customers - those who could spend 70 pesos per cup. Ours targets mid-level customers (those who can afford 100 to 165 pesos per cup). 

A vision statement could also be a vision script. 

Michael Hyatt, a business leadership expert, coined and described the term “vision script”. 

A Vision Script is a robust document, written in the present tense, that describes your future reality as if it were today. The trick is to step into the future and record what you see in four critical areas of your business: your team, products, sales and marketing, and impact.

Returning to your audience targeting is essential when writing your vision statement or vision script. Who will you target in the next 5, 10, or 20 years? Of course, it will change as the market and business landscape change, but you should identify your target market - as that could be part of your vision. 

Describe your cafe’s long-term accomplishments and expectations in writing your vision statement. Do you want to be a leading cafe cart in the Philippines? Or maybe you want to go to the most aesthetic coffee shop? 

Remember that your vision statement depicts your future cafe. 

To help you out, here are five things to consider when writing your vision statement.”

Inspiring

Most importantly, you want your vision statement to inspire your employees to improve their work and personal lives.

As you write your vision script, think if it’s something that can inspire people. And not only employees but when someone walks into your store and sees your vision board. The moment they saw it, there could be an awe from their eyes and a little bit of curiosity in asking why it is your vision statement. 

Realistic

Your vision script or statement is ideal but realistic. It must be achievable in years and could be something your team can execute. 

Any vision statement must give you a reality to look at, either internally among your team members or from an external standpoint, looking at your target market and community. 

Branded 

Your vision statement must include your unique differentiation. Again, what sets your cafe apart from its competitors? The vision must include branding so your customers feel your restaurant is explicitly serving them.

Understanding your customers’ points, challenges, and problems is crucial in determining the branding you need in your vision statement. 

Progressive 

In today’s time, your vision could only last for three years after you accomplish it. In other words, your vision script must be progressive. As you gain more success, you must remember that your vision also changes according to the status and potential of your cafe. 

The more you win as a coffee shop, the more frequently you must change your vision statement. 

How to Write Your Coffee Shop Mission Statement? 

After you craft your vision script or vision statement, write your coffee shop mission statement.

Mission statement is about the “now” - what your cafe currently does. 

At Hills & Valleys Cafe, our mission statement goes like this: =

Hills & Valleys Cafe Mission Statement 

To inspire every customer to live a better life and provide Filipinos with job opportunities.

Here are three primary considerations when writing your cafe mission statement: 

• What does your coffee shop do?
• How does your coffee shop do what it does?
• Who does your coffee shop serve?

If you summarize it, the mission statement is about the “doing part” of your cafe. 

When writing your cafe mission statement, remember to make it short. You should easily communicate it with your team members (baristas, HR assistants, managers, or admin assistants) so well that you don’t have to read it entirely on paper. 

You could also include your cafe's purpose “why” in your mission statement. This allows your team to be more action-oriented in their approach toward work. 

Overall, you have to reference the present of your cafe. “What it does” is a significant component of your mission statement. 

How to Avoid Mistakes When Writing Your Cafe Vision/Mission Statements

You may be ready to craft your vision and mission statement within a few minutes. But be careful as you could make mistakes when doing it in a rush. 

Here are some tips for avoiding mistakes when writing your vision or mission statements. 

1. Think about it carefully. 

You don’t have to rush ideas. At some point, you may reflect on what you want your cafe to be—other times, you would be blacked out of ideas.

Relax. Be calm. 

It is vital to have a peaceful mind when thinking of your vision/mission statements. 

Ask your team to come with you and collaboratively work on your vital statements. You don’t have to be alone when crafting your vision/mission statements. One of your team members might have a great insight you would otherwise have missed if you didn’t include him in the brainstorming.

2. Simplify.

Refrain from suffering your team from the curse of knowledge, which refers to trying to overload your vision/mission statement with too much information.

The best way to determine if you make an excellent vision/mission statement is when you can share it with a kid.

The simpler your statements are, the better you can communicate them to your teams. Simplify the complexity of your cafe. 

3. Reflect upon your core values.

Your core values are what you stand for as a person. You have exciting moments where you reflect upon certain things that remain your ground whenever challenges, issues, and problems arise.

When writing your vision and mission statements, reflecting upon your core values is best. Your core values would be the foundation of your cafe. And at most, if you know what you stand for, it would be easy for you to see where you are going (“vision”) and what you should be doing (“mission”).

Remember, vision and mission statements are personal in you as a cafe entrepreneur. 

Coffee Shop Vision and Mission Statement Examples

1. Starbucks

Starbucks Vision Statement: To establish Starbucks as the premier purveyor of the finest coffee in the world while maintaining our uncompromising principles while we grow.

Starbucks' Mission Statement: to inspire and nurture the human spirit — one person, one cup, and one neighborhood at a time.” 

2. The Coffee Bean & Tea Leaf

The Coffee Bean & Tea Leaf Mission Statement: To create a spirit within our company that inspires our team members to provide our customers with a total quality experience

The Coffee Bean & Tea Leaf Vision Statement: To be "Simply the Best" roaster and global specialty coffee and tea retailer.

3. Tim Hortons

Tim Hortons Mission Statement: There’s more to Tim Hortons than great-tasting coffee. We work hard to deliver the highest-quality products and services and strive to be a leader in everything we do. It’s that simple. 

Tim Hortons Vision Statement: Our vision is to be the quality leader in everything we do.

4. Dunkin

Dunkin' Mission Statement: To be the leading provider of a wide range of delicious beverages & baked products around the kingdom in a convenient, relaxed, friendly environment that ensures the highest quality product and best value for money. 

Dunkin' Vision Statement: To be consistently the desired place for great coffee beverages and delicious complementary donuts & bakery products to enjoy with family and friends.

Key Takeaways 

Writing your cafe mission and vision statements isn’t easy. However, building the proper foundation for your coffee shop is crucial. So, make it a goal to brainstorm it yourself or with your team. Communicate these statements with your entire team so you will be working on the same goals.

by Venchito Tampon

11 Coffee Shop Promotion Ideas For 2025

Learning how to promote your coffee shop after establishing the operations is crucial to success. With all the technological advancements and resources available, which would you use to market your cafe? 

In this guide, I’ll walk you through 11 coffee shop promotion ideas and even share practical examples you can apply to your cafe immediately. 

Let’s get started.

11 Coffee Shop Promotion Ideas For 2025

1. Holiday and Seasonal Events

Every month has its share of seasonal events and holidays you can use to promote your coffee products. In the Philippine context, we have an average of 18 holidays you can prepare in advance. 

What works for us at Hills & Valleys Cafe is preparing for every holiday and season with two main objectives:

• Entice new potential customers to visit the store (i.e., Buy 1 Take one promo)
• Launch new products during holidays

We’ve found these two very effective as you give customers a good reason to purchase existing or new products.

Pro tip: You can use ChatGPT to generate ideas for holiday or seasonal marketing campaigns.

You can use this prompt:

Give me 10 engaging marketing titles for our new [PRODUCT] launch to be promoted during [HOLIDAY]. Make it compelling and easy to understand. 

From these ideas, you can choose what fits your coffee shop and create a holiday or seasonal campaign for your customers.

2. BOGO (Buy One Get One)

Buy 1 Take One promotion is a conventional marketing campaign to entice people to purchase more beverages from your store, increasing monthly sales.

Appropriately done can help you acquire new customers who are looking to get money for value from their pockets. 

Conversely, if you did it wrong, it could skyrocket your expenses, decreasing your monthly profits.

Your product launch is the best way to start a BOGO marketing campaign. You want your customers to taste your new coffee beverage while being affordable so you can reach as many customers as possible.

Pro Tip: You can combine seasonal and BOGO campaigns, where customers can enjoy buy-one-get-one beverages during the holiday season.

3. Discounts For Students or Teachers

This applies to local cafes near schools and universities. 

You can offer a little discount to students or teachers (or both), and you’ll have them as your recurring customers. 

The best thing about this strategy is retaining a specific group of customers and increasing group transactions in your store.

Pro Tip: Do a Meta Ads campaign and promote your discount targeted to students and teachers. Before the launch, set up the campaign so you’ll benefit from early visibility for your store.

4. Local Partnerships 

Local partnership builds connections and trust among nearby businesses and establishments that can cross-promote your coffee products with their services. 

By being in touch with local businesses within your area, you’ll start to build stronger bonds that are mutually beneficial for companies. 

For example, we’ve created a solid local partnership with a local gym brand near our store. Given they have five branches in our area (San Jose Del Monte, Bulacan, and other cities in Cavite, it’s a plus to get our brand out to their existing clients.

This brought groups of fitness enthusiasts to our store, increasing our monthly sales. 

How do local partnerships work?

Think of a marketing campaign to give discounts, freebies, or value to their customers or clients. It should be something enticing that the business owner would want to grab the opportunity.

Ask the business owner if they want to give discounts to your customers so they can capture your existing buyers.

Create a win-win scenario where both parties (you and the other business owner) get their desired customers through a BOGO or discount marketing campaign.

5. Invest in Meta Advertising

One of our early wins at Hills & Valleys Cafe is the customers we gained from Facebook. By leveraging Meta Advertising weeks before our store opening, we were able to promote our brand to people within our target town. 

This helps increase our brand awareness because most of our target market engages in this social media platform.

Here are some tips to leverage Meta advertising (both Facebook and Instagram Advertising) to promote your local cafe or coffee franchise.

Create a campaign with 3 Ad Sets. Each Ad Set is targeting three interests.

To give you a quick understanding, I’ve created this image so you can see how it works.

So, for the three Ad Sets, here’s how it looks like:

• 1st Ad Set (MOST NARROW)- 3 interests overlapping
• 2nd Ad Set (MEDIUM) - 2 interests overlapping
• 3rd Ad Set (MOST BROAD) - 1 interest 

You can test which audience will resonate with your customers by targeting these three audience groups with different interest intersections. 

Add more budget to the adset where ads are highly performing. Or distribute it to adsets with significant ROI regarding clicks and leads/inquiries.

6. Claim Google Business 

Google My Business is a free Google service that lets you create a business listing online.

Once your account and data have been verified by Google, you’ll see your business displayed on Google Maps. And when your coffee customers start looking for your brand on Google, they’ll start seeing your map location, an image, and all the general business information you input. 

Follow this procedure to create or claim your GMB Listing. You’ll be asked to fill out many fields related to your business's specifics. In the Philippines, we have to do the traditional way of entering a code via snail mail to verify your account entirely. 

Ensure you include accurate information about your business - NAP, which stands for Name, Address, and Phone Number. 

Take photos of each area of your store and upload them to GMB. The higher the resolution of your images, the better. 

And to rank your GMB better on local map packs, you must ask for reviews from your potential customers. The more reviews you have, the more chances you can climb the map pack rankings faster.

One of the best ways to provide feedback on your store and products is to incentivize them with freebies (or discounted products). 

Many potential customers search on Google when they’re looking for a cafe near their place (or when they visit a particular tourist spot - e.g., Tagaytay). 

And when your Google My Business ranks for keywords like “coffee shop in Tagaytay,” you’re likely to increase visibility for those customers and get more foot traffic to your store. 

This leads to our next coffee shop promotional strategy: creating your website.

7. Create Your Business Website 

Having a business website is a minimum requirement in marketing a coffee shop. It displays your store address, store hours, and contact information, and you can also use it to promote your coffee shop.

SEO, or search engine optimization, is one of the digital marketing disciplines that aims to optimize the website to rank on its target keyword on Google’s search engine results pages (SERPs).

You want to rank for “coffee shop in Baguio.” You optimize your homepage for the key phrase, “coffee shop in Baguio,” so you’ll have chances to rank for it.

And through online rankings, you get visitors who’ll be curious about coffee shops and could add up to foot traffic for your local cafe.

Here are a few tips when doing SEO for your local cafe:

• Include your target keyword in the page URL (/coffee-shop-in-baguio/), or it is your homepage. You simply add the keyword in your meta title.
• Add the keyword in the meta description, H1, H2s, and first sentence. 
• Publish an “about”, “history”, and contact pages.
• Include all relevant information about your cafe, including store hours, address, menu, and Google Maps.

The goal is to make it easy for potential customers to visit your store by providing all relevant information.

Pro Tip: Include a Meta Chat Plugin connected to your Facebook page. So when someone wants to ask a question about your cafe, you’ll receive it straight using your Meta Page. 

8. Create a Loyalty Program

One effective method to retain your customers is to create a loyalty program. 

A loyalty program helps you to entice people to purchase recurring transactions every week (if not every day) and get the most benefit from your products by offering a more affordable option.

At Hills & Valleys Cafe, our loyalty cards allow customers freebies on their 3rd, 5th, 7th, and 10th transactions. At the 10th transaction, let’s say they’ll get a free coffee of any size. 

More tips on creating a loyalty program: 

• Determine your best-selling coffee/drinks and include it as part of your loyalty program, i.e., they get this free best-selling drink at the 10th purchase.
• Design your loyalty program at its best. Make it glossy and easy to carry in customers’ pockets. 
• Sign every loyalty card as proof of purchase. Train your baristas to do so.

9. New Product Launches

New product launches are a great way to promote your coffee shop. Not only do you encourage customers to buy new products, but you can also use them to support other products on your menu.

You can integrate it into other coffee shop promotional strategies like seasonal or holiday campaigns. 

When launching new products, the good part is you add excitement to your customers, giving them more reasons to buy more and repeatedly from your local cafe.

Pro Tip: Think of a new beverage (drink/food) every 3 to 4 months. And aim to launch them to attract new customers and retain loyal ones.

10. Exclusive Of Stores For Events 

One of the uncommon promotional strategies for local cafes and restaurants is allowing customers to use the store venue exclusively. 

This means they’ll pay for 2 to 4 hours and use it for business meetings or personal gatherings like bridal showers, presentations, seminars, pre-nuptial celebrations, or a simple hangout with friends. 

Think of how you can create an exclusive event program that may or may not include consumables of your products. 

For example, at Php10,000, your client can use the store for 2 hours, with Php10,000 worth of drinks and food. 

So, based on your target audience and location, how can you incorporate an exclusive store for events.?

11. Grow Social Media Profiles

63% of consumers use social media to find new restaurants or explore new menu items.

This paves an important truth that every cafe or restaurant should start and grow their social media profiles.

Not only targeting likes and followers but aiming for the main goal - driving foot traffic to your local cafe.

Actionable tips to grow your social media following:

• Identify your target audience.
• Base your messaging on your audience groups so you can empathize and resonate your content with them.
• Set a content calendar to schedule every content asset on your social media profiles. 
• Create content that targets your target customer's pain points, challenges, and needs.
• You can use ChatGPT to generate content ideas and even write captions for your social media profiles. Be more specific with your prompts. 
• Use Meta Advertising to get direct conversions - messages or inquiries to your website. 
• Collaborate or tag other local business partners and cross-promote their products or services.
• Post user-generated content (images of your customers in your store, sipping your coffee, and other photos snapped by your customers).

Build Your Branding For Your Local Cafe

You’ve seen how to promote your coffee shop using 11 different marketing strategies, done online and face-to-face setups.

Assess your resources and determine which promotional strategy best suits your needs, context, and preferences. 

by Venchito Tampon

List of Raw Materials For Coffee Shop

A list of raw materials for a coffee shop makes your baristas familiar with what they need to brew a perfect espresso. 

Whether you want to open a cafe or search for how much each raw material costs? 

You need two lists: raw materials to create a coffee beverage and coffee supplies. 

Let’s dive in. 

List of Raw Materials For Coffee Beverages

1. Coffee Beans - choose Arabica or Robusta, or your signature blend for coffee beans. These are seeds of the coffee plant, roasted and used in espresso machines to produce a rich and aromatic espresso. 
2. Milk - is used for hot and cold coffee beverages as an added sweetness to the taste. 
3. Sweetened Milk - a sweetener that enhances the taste of a specific coffee beverage (e.g., Spanish Latte). 
4. Heavy Cream is a thick dairy product for whipped cream, breve, and frapped-style beverages. 
5. Whipped Cream - is used heavily for frapped types of beverages, like the one you see in Starbucks Frappuccino drinks.
6. Syrups - concentrated solutions of sugar in water used to sweeten drinks and desserts, come in many fruit and traditional flavors, i.e., caramel, white mocha, French vanilla, and hazelnut.
7. Sauce is a liquid or semi-liquid condiment that adds flavor or moisture to coffee and non-coffee beverages. 
8. Chocolate Bar - solid blocks of chocolate ranging from sweet to bitter, best for mocha, chocolate coffee, and non-coffee drinks.
9. Matcha Powder - a finely ground powder made from grown and processed green tea leaves, primarily used for matcha drinks.
10. Frappees Powder - a flavored powdered mix with a creamy and frothy texture used for frappe-style beverages.
11. Sugar - is needed to sweeten drinks.
12. Brown Sugar - distinctive brown color, suitable for specific beverages.
13. Water - essential for any type of drink (coffee and non-coffee beverages)
14. Other sweeteners - you can create your blend of sweeteners to add taste to your beverages.
15. Creamer - dairy or non-dairy additives to lighten and enrich the flavor of coffee. You can put it in a container where customers can freely pick it to sweeten their coffee. 

List of Coffee Shop Supplies

Here is a list of coffee shop supplies you need to prepare beverages for customers. 

1. Disposable Cups - single-use containers made of plastic designed to hold iced beverages. 
2. Paper Hot Cups and Lids - insulated paper caps to hold hot beverages, accompanied by lids to prevent spills.
3. Cup Sleeves - protective layers that fit around a cult to provide insulation and protect hands from hot contents.
4. Coffee to Go Boxes - large, insulated containers designed to hold multiple servings of coffee for takeaway or delivery.
5. Cake Boxes - cardboard or paper containers designed to transport cakes and pastries. 
6. Disposable Bags - single-use bags, often made of plastic, used for carrying items.
7. Paper Bags - eco-friendly bags made of paper, often used for carrying baked goods or small purchases.
8. Straws and Stirrers - tools used to sip cold beverages or mix additives like sugar and creamer into coffee.
9. Napkins - thin paper or cloth squares used to wipe the mouth or hands and protect clothing.
10. Coffee Filters - porous paper or metal devices used to strain coffee grounds from the brewed liquid.
11. Cleaning Supplies - products like brushes and cloths to maintain cleanliness in a coffee shop setting.

Why Create Your Lists of Raw Materials and Supplies?

One best practice in starting a coffee shop business is keeping everything organized. If you can arrange items into proper places, either raw materials in one place or sets of tables for good seating, you’ll have smoother and better operations and customer experience.

Creating your lists of raw materials and supplies offers various benefits as a cafe owner or barista. Let me give you some compelling reasons to create lists.

Proper Inventory Management

When you know precisely all the raw materials and supplies to create a single beverage, you can determine the exact quantity you need and purchase every week or month.

Thus, it helps you to stay in stock due to the unavailability of certain raw materials. This may significantly cause sales, as you cannot keep the demand for some of your drinks.

By creating lists of raw materials and coffee shops, you can perform better inventory management, which has a massive effect on growing your monthly sales.

Waste Reduction

Another primary reason you should have your lists of raw materials is to save time in your store. This means you are now in control of the amount and quality of each beverage and can be very detailed as to the exact quantity of raw materials to be used. 

Instead of spending too much raw materials in one drink, you can train your baristas to specify the amount used while sustaining the quality of drinks.

Without any list or inventory management, you allow baristas to waste some raw materials, which can significantly add to the cost of goods sold in your coffee shop.

Preparation for Expansion

When you organize lists, you are preparing your startup cafe to brand out to other locations. This means that you establish systems to ensure every store will have the same quality (or even higher) and avoid any technical and operational issues due to inconsistent execution of beverage preparation.

If you’re an aspiring cafe owner, you should be looking forward to this and must be adept at growing your cafe business.

Faster Coffee Preparation

When your baristas have a list of raw materials that can be included in your cafe manual, you can have confidence in the quality of each coffee they create for customers. 

Given that each of them follow the exact step-by-step guide with lists for a quantity of raw materials, you can ensure the same coffee experience for all your customers.

Customer experience is an essential factor in running and growing coffee shop operations. It will retain your loyal coffee lovers and help spread positive word-of-mouth about the taste and quality of coffee your baristas prepare for them. 

Exceptional Customer Experience

You don’t want your baristas to be confused with beverage operations, let alone consume time in thinking if they still have stocks of raw materials for every beverage. You want them to be comfortable and confident whenever they face their customers.

By having lists, you can create an exceptional customer experience where every barista and staff are focused on helping your customers get what they want. 

by Venchito Tampon

Why Coffee Shop is a Good Business in the Philippines

Starting a coffee shop business is not a walk in the park. It requires grit, creativity, and resourcefulness to succeed in the food and beverage industry.

The Philippines is a country of coffee enthusiasts, with nine out of 10 Filipino households consuming coffee regularly. The latest Philippine coffee statistics reveal that in 2020 alone, about 3.3 million 60-kilogram bags were used. It has grown up to date. For further reading, you can check out this guide on Philippine coffee consumption trends. 

If you’re not convinced yet, here are the primary reasons why a coffee shop is a good business and some major challenges you’ll face when you venture into this type of business.

Why Coffee Shop is a Good Business in the Philippines

Growing Specialty Coffee Market

The demand for specialty coffee is on the rise in the Philippines. Consumers are becoming more discerning about the quality and origin of their coffee beans when they’re at the cafe counter. 

Today's trend is offering unique and high-quality specialty coffees from startup brands or coffee franchise in the Philippines. A coffee shop that can tap into this new desire and behavior of consumers has the highest potential to attract coffee connoisseurs.

With the specialty coffee market, cafe owners and baristas in the Philippines have begun to create new beverages and mix and match ingredients to cater to the increasing taste changes of their target audience. 

For young people, flavored frappes have been a go-to beverage, while for health-conscious consumers, matcha lattes and fruit juices - non-coffee drinks are added to the cafe menu.

Strong Coffee Culture

The Philippines has a rich coffee culture with a growing popularity among coffee enthusiasts. Many Filipinos gather in coffee shops to socialize, work, have fun, and enjoy coffee.

The number of coffee shops built in every town and city in the Philippines has grown since the 2020 Global Pandemic. Many cafes have recovered their businesses, as many companies brought their employees back to work in physical offices. 

Filipinos' deep desire for better and longer socialization is seen in long lines waiting for their cups at the counter. A lengthier stay in cafes is also encouraged by cafe owners and baristas, as they’ve seen many people seeking longer intimate moments with friends and families. 

Rising Disposable Income

The country’s economy has been steadily growing, leading to an increase in disposable income among Filipinos. With many freelancing jobs and outsourcing opportunities in the country, professionals acquire additional income streams, translating to more spending power to indulge in coffee shop experiences.

They are making the coffee industry a lucrative business opportunity to pursue. In earlier years, you’ll only see corporate professionals conduct meetings and intimate gatherings in coffee shops. Students and young people gather inside cafes, taking Instagrammable pictures for their social media profiles. 

This behavior change is a positive signal to invest in the coffee shop business in the Philippines. Foreign brands have recently brought their international taste to the Philippine coffee scene. 

Affordable Equipment

The rise of specialty coffee in the Philippines led many coffee suppliers to complement the country's overarching coffee ecosystem. Suppliers for coffee syrups, sauces, cups, and espresso machines in the Philippines, make it easy for budding entrepreneurs to put their cafe brand from scratch. 

Affordability, reliability, superior quality, and convenience are key factors cafe owners look for in every coffee shop supplier. While many fly-by-night cafe suppliers exist, you can find a few reliable options locally in the Philippines, including Blend N Sips.

Diverse Menu Options

The coffee shop business in the Philippines has expanded its offerings beyond traditional coffee beverages. Most cafes you’ll visit provide food items, including pastries, sandwiches, and snacks, catering to diverse customer preferences and needs. 

This expanded menu allows coffee shops to attract a broader customer, improve customer retention, and ultimately, increase revenue streams.

There are Philippine cafes that offer non-coffee beverages to add up to the increasing demand for tea-based products and frappes, which Starbucks Coffee initially introduced. 

By having diverse menu options, you’ll attract more tourists to every go-to city and location in the Philippines - making cafes an additional tourist spot for foreign nationals. 

Rising Demand for Co-Working Spaces

The rise of freelancers, entrepreneurs, and remote workers has filled the demand for co-working spaces. This led to starting entrepreneurs to put up their cafes, making them a popular choice for individuals seeking a productive and inspiring environment outside their traditional office settings.

Their buying capability and need to offer a great opportunity for anyone to put a coffee cart, store type, or even a fit-out brand beside co-working spaces or inside corporate buildings. Capitalizing on this trend can lead to a steady stream of customers throughout the day. 

Social Media Influence

Filipinos are one of the most tech-savvy people in the world. Their activeness on social media platforms, like Tiktok, often serves as attractive backdrops for Instagram-worthy photos. 

Creating visually-appealing designs and Instagrammable spaces for cafes can generate free online marketing through user-generated content, increasing brand exposure and potential new customers.

Social media marketing campaigns can help build a solid brand for startup cafes and, ultimately, any cafe supplier looking to generate more awareness for their brand.

On top of it, you can see other digital marketing channels, like search engine optimization and pay-per-click advertising, to be go-to marketing strategies for starting cafe owners. They can penetrate the local coffee industry with an affordable budget, maintaining their overhead costs at a minimum. 

Tourist Hotspots

The Philippines is a popular tourist destination, attracting millions of yearly visitors. This alone can help coffee shops cater to many customers, including domestic and international tourists. 

Offering them a place to relax, recharge, and experience a local coffee culture is a unique experience most tourists would love to return to. 

If you’re an aspiring coffee business owner, placing your cafe in tourist hotspots is a great way to guarantee foot traffic from regular tourists to hotels, beaches, and other popular destinations in your target city or location. 

Community Engagement

Coffee shops can become community hubs, fostering a sense of belonging and community engagement. By hosting events, seminars, workshops, gatherings, and even intimate occasions such as weddings, coffee shop owners can create a sense of loyalty among their customers.

Community engagement can establish the coffee business as an integral part of the local community, which builds a strong coffee culture for the nation. 

Invest In A Thriving Business

When investing in a business, one big factor is the profitability and industry you’ll be venturing into. It must be thriving where customer demand is going in the right direction. 

Fortunately, the coffee business is one of those thriving industries you can consider as an aspiring entrepreneur. By having a good set of coffee suppliers, a proper location, a targeted marketing campaign, and a strategic business plan, you can create a coffee business that can grow for years.

Why Coffee Shop is a Good Business in the Philippines FAQs

Why is it good to have a coffee shop business?

Having a coffee shop business in your community is beneficial for various reasons. It creates local jobs, stimulates the local economy by supporting other businesses, and promotes a diverse economic landscape. Additionally, sourcing products and services locally can have a positive environmental impact. Overall, small coffee shops contribute significantly to the growth and sustainability of the community.

Is coffee a good business?

Coffee can be a profitable business venture, with most coffee shops becoming profitable within a few years. Success depends on food production costs and key performance indicators (KPIs). By year five, coffee shops can expect their sales to double. Carefully considering budget contingency funds, startup costs, and initial operational expenses is crucial for success in the coffee business.

Why is coffee shop a good business in the Philippines?

Coffee shop business in the Philippines is a lucrative venture due to its high demand and booming industry. With over 2,752 café and coffee shops in the country (2020 data from PSA), it's evident that we are a nation of coffee enthusiasts. Coffee consumption is a common habit among nine out of 10 Filipino households, making it a great market for aspiring entrepreneurs.

Why do people love coffee shops?

People love coffee shops because they provide the perfect cup of coffee that energizes them for the day. Additionally, coffee is considered a part of a balanced diet, which makes it even more appealing. So, coffee at a coffee shop helps individuals feel refreshed and satisfied.

by Venchito Tampon