Hello everyone, I’m Arella Chavez and I’m a graduate of the EM program batch 2019. I’m the owner of Coffee Manille Co which is a specialty coffee and supply shop. We do events, pop-ups, and also at the same time supply other cafes in the metro. We serve specialty coffee through bottles and also iced lattes and also we distribute the popular syrup brand Da Vinci Gourmet and also Katcher and other milks.
What is nice about Da Vinci products is that it’s the highest quality in its price point. Also, it tastes good with coffee where a lot of consumers really appreciate the taste of coffee even more. And also, Da Vinci offers a lot of varieties through syrup, sauces, powders and also fruit mixes which makes the beverage even stand out more.
So this is the extension of our warehouse. This is also where some events happen and this is where every day we fix the shipments, we pack and also where we hold meetings with the team. Now that events and parties are in demand, we decided to also put up a mobile cart for Coffee Manille Co where we serve specialty drinks especially coffee and we also do private bookings to weddings and other requests. We also do private bookings where a customer books us for the whole day and also I join events, bazaars for the cart as well.
Now guys, let me give you a tour at our BGC pop-up. So my current and newest business right now is Cha Bar. It is also under Coffee Manille Co. It is our Thai line which offers the top favorite drinks in Thailand which are Thai milk tea which is known as Cha Yen, Thai green tea, cocoa, the pink drink, and also we offer mango sticky rice as a pairing for those drinks. The target market of Cha Bar after several events and pop-ups are observed as Gen Zs and Millennials who are fond of Thai culture and those who are interested and those who like Thai drinks.
Being a student and a business owner was really challenging but at the end of the day, if you’re really passionate about something you want to do, you’re passionate about business, then you’re naturally gonna balance it.
So the EM program helped me to balance being a business owner and student by the mentoring programs as they taught us how to manage our time and how to separate and still focus on our acads. Also the other opportunities they give us as we were also given the chance to sell our products in the EM lab. What makes the EM program different and that’s why I will really recommend it is because of the mentorship program that we had. During my college days we have a mentor who guides us through making our venture and also of course the panel where we presented our business, our ideas to them and they gave us advice and suggestions for the improvement of our business.
Now what makes the mentors different is that they are the ones who already have the experience in the business world, in the real world. And through their experiences, I was able to apply it to my business. My future plan for my business is to further expand and have a physical shop soon where I can display my cafe supplies and also be able to serve my drinks in a physical shop. You can follow us on Facebook and Instagram, @coffeemanilco.com. Thank you.