RP's specialty coffee still has huge opportunity for growth

Although there are dozens of entrepreneurs venturing into coffee shop businesses around the country, the specialty coffee industry still has a huge opportunity for growth.

Bo's Coffee Club proprietor Steve Benitez said the Philippine Coffee Shop industry is still in its "heyday." Despite the entry of more and more international coffee chains, homegrown brands are still experiencing supreme patronage from Filipinos, as well as tourists.

"There is still a huge opportunity for growth for the specialty coffee industry in the Philippines. The market is not yet saturated," Benitez said.

In the Philippines, he said there is still no coffee shop in every corner, especially in the sub-urban areas. Besides, he added that the industry still has to penetrate the provincial areas wherein residents are also starting to adopt the urban lifestyle like socializing in coffee shops.

Benitez, who is the president of the Coffee Centrale Inc.-The Bean Company, the firm that manages Bo's Coffee Club, said that in fact his company is adding five to six Bo's Coffee Club outlets around the country starting this year.

In Metro Manila, where there are more coffee shop brands, he said Bo's Coffee Club still captured significant consumer patronage. That is why aside from expanding in Metro Manila or Luzon area, he said next move will be putting up outlets in Visayas and Mindanao.

Initially, one of the areas being looked at for possible penetration is Zamboanga that will also be managed by a franchisee.

Bo's Coffee Club utilizes almost 100 percent of its raw material requirement from local industries, that is why its prices remain competitive and is way below the more famous brands.

The homegrown operators like Bo's were able to fight with the giants as most of them are also investing on creating premium shop ambiance, and developing good gourmet and specialty coffee products.

Coffee Dream operator Glenn Soco in a separate interview also shared similar outlook with Benitez, saying neighborhood coffee shop is a fertile area that homegrown specialty coffee operators should capture.

Soco envisions that in the future the specialty coffee industry would expand into opening neighborhood coffee shops, offering the same product and ambiance as that in malls and highly urbanized areas.

"Opportunity for growth in the specialty coffee industry is huge," Soco said adding that for his Coffee Dream venture, he had already started to attract the mainstream market via offering lower cost of gourmet coffee products, as low as P20 per order.

Because of the rosy outlook for specialty coffee industry, an industry association is now working to revitalize the country's ailing coffee production industry in the Philippines.

National Coffee Development Board co-chairman Nicolas Matti earlier said that there is a need to support the country's coffee industry for the country to cut costs. This can be done by minimizing, if not stopping, the importation of coffee.

The country used to export in significant quantities, because the supply of coffee was more than the demand. But now, the Philippines is importing P1.5 billion worth of coffee to meet the 35,000 metric tons demand shortage Matti said.

The country's coffee production is estimated to be at 20,000 metric tons while local consumption is 55,000 metric tons. This is because most coffee growers have diversified to other high-value crops or converted lands to commercial or industrial use.