Bo’s Coffee brewing up a higher purpose

With over a hundred branches all over the country, one of which is brewing in the Middle East, the father of Bo's Coffee Steve Benitez cannot recall splurging the fruits of his business for himself.

But, certainly Steve had long been able to get back his over P100,000 investment when he started the tiny coffee stall in one of the hallways of Ayala Center Cebu in 1996.

"I remember buying my first brand new car in 2004," Steve recalled. This was eight years after Bo's Coffee was born.

He said every time he made profit, he put large chunk back to the business and get only a portion. This ritual continues up until now even if his business is regarded as the most successful homegrown coffee shop brand in the Philippines.

Lost and found

Steve gave up his law studies a year before he was supposed to graduate, only to save his family business in Cebu.

In 1992, his parents who owned and managed the famous Ric's Barbeque along Ramos Street, wanted to shut down the business, to retire and live a stress-free life.

Steve, the youngest of the five Benitez brood, volunteered to take over the management of the family business and left Ateneo de Manila Law School.

While losing his dream as a lawyer, Steve found his first love along the way.

"I spent my first salary to travel," as if released from the prison of hectic, stressful routine in law school, Steve fell in love with travel. In this new found freedom, he discovered his unrelenting obsession of the aromatic authentic coffee and relaxing coffee shops in Europe, particularly France.

Though he admitted that he loves coffee ever since, it is the way how coffee is savored and enjoyed in the homey and inviting ambiance of coffee shops abroad, which becomes a venue to connect and nurture relationships that fascinated him the most.

While the idea of going to coffee shops to socialize and "chit-chat" was completely unfamiliar in the Philippine setting in the mid-1990s, Steve went on to introduce this strange lifestyle to Cebu although nobody understood what he was doing.

Steve bought his first coffee machine from a coffee exhibition show in Singapore and hand-carried the machine in his flight going back to Cebu.

The coffee machine cost him P65,000. From there, he dared to open a stall inside Ayala Center Cebu mall. Now he wakes up everyday not to worry for his family and his own future, but of the future of the 700 people working for him, and pursuing his dream to contribute to lifestyle upgrade of Filipino coffee farmers and social entrepreneur communities.

Planting his money seeds

Prior to creating Bo's Coffee, Steve already spread and planted money seeds in a small business and acquired the small Sharwarma counter started by a Lebanese entrepreneur.

That time shawarma was not as popular as today. While managing Ric's Barbeque, he also made money on the side selling properties. Income from those sidelines was planted in unpopular Shawarma venture. His meager salary from family business on the other hand, was mostly spent to nurture his love to explore and travel.

Steve bought the Shawarma business for less than P100 thousand. The seed sprouted and became fruit-bearing. Now, it has presence in foodcourts, malls, and food strips. This business is now managed by his wife Geraldine.

Brewing with giants

Not long after Steve insisted to bring in coffee-drinking lifestyle of fine countries like Europe, giant global brands followed his trail and Cebu was also invaded.

The likes of Starbucks, Coffee Bean and Tea Leaf, Seattle's Best, and Gloria Jeans, among others joined Bo's Coffee and few other local brands, as Filipinos started to embrace the new way of enjoying good coffee outside the comfort of their homes.

Some of the fad-joiners in coffee shop craze in the early 2000 especially local brands easily made money and grew fast. Yet, most of them folded up or some closed majority of their shops – perhaps affected by the giants' presence or simply casualties of competition.

But Bo's Coffee sustained its strength. In fact, while giants coffee shop brands expanded their dominance in Cebu and other urban centers in Philippines, Bo's also grew in subdued manner and successfully survived the intimidating presence of global brewed.

Steve's trade secret is not only he pioneered the lifestyle coffee drinking business here, but his discipline in tending his "money-farm," is worth emulating.

He used profits to feed his business to grow bigger. Enduring the temptation of lifestyle extravagance, and resolved to be comfortable with simple luxuries in exploring and traveling new places with family.

Today, Steve’s Bo's Coffee transcends into a Cebu-grown coffee shop giant, brewing along with global mighty brands.

Mr. Bo

When Steve was still learning the ropes of coffee business and the art of drinking coffee, he was swiftly inspired by a coffee connoisseur named Bo in one of his travels in the United States.

Mr. Bo, he related was the most passionate and knowledgeable about coffee he ever met, whose convincing spirit was too powerful that he was inspired to pursue his love-affair with coffee right there and then.

Steve met this Italian-American coffee connoisseur in a Coffee roadshow in New Orleans. "I only had about five to 10 minutes interaction with Mr. Bo." After that the fascination about coffee became an obsession that he wanted to go home and start his romance with coffee business, if only he can do it almost instantaneously.

Up until now, Mr. Bo never knew that he made a homegrown giant in the Philippines out of a 10-minute "coffee break" with Steve.

Savor the flavor

After savoring the flavor of Bo's Coffee's success in beating the global coffee business veterans, Steve is heading towards another fight. This time, bringing with him the lives of Filipino farmers to taste the rightful aroma of their hardwork.

Steve is championing the promotion of Philippine-grown coffee beans in all Bo's Coffee outlets in the country.

Bo's Coffee's entry to Qatar in the Middle East recently, commenced his dream of flaunting Philippine coffee flavor, re-introducing the Philippines' lead in coffee bean production.

Chosen as one of the board members and private sector representative of the Philippine Coffee Council, Steve sealed his commitment to uplift the livelihood and income of coffee farmers in the country, not only buying their produce to supply Bo's Coffee's requirement, but also to promote the unique "kick" and flavor of Philippine coffee to world's tastebuds.

At this stage, the Philippines has yet to satisfy the enormously growing requirement of coffee beans locally, much less supplying the world market.

Steve's heart is now captivated by the lifestyle of coffee growers around the country. While per cup is sold not less than a hundred pesos in high-life coffee houses, farmers are struggling to earn an equivalent to a cup price of "frappuccino grande" a day – more or less.

These farmers too, should savor the flavor of success in coffee business, Steve shared in sheer honesty.

Perfect blend

Even before Steve can conquer the world in bannering Philippine coffee, he is already preparing the ground to make Bo's Coffee shops the home to micro-small (and struggling) social entrepreneur communities in the Philippines.

A perfect blend for a homegrown, truly Filipino brand, which does not only help coffee farmers, but farmers, weavers, artisans, whose products are yet to be seen, heard, seen, tasted by the world.

His version of perfect blend is not only the sensuous taste and aroma of Philippine coffee, but also the over-all presentation of Philippine culture – its indigenous and nearly forgotten products, Filipino music and artistry, and Philippine-grown tea products.

Bo's Coffee outlets now offering social enterprise lifestyle items such as Bayani Brew juice, Theo and Philo chocolates, Loudbasstard, and also partners with Anthill Fabric Gallery for coffee shop's requirements for Filipino inspired interiors and Bo's collectible products, among others.

By 2020, Bo's Coffee targets to make strong entry to the world coffee market, as it plans to consider pending applications for overseas franchise operations, which is now put on hold to make way for its massive Philippine expansion plan.

Something powerful

In 2012, Steve was introduced to social entrepreneurship. This noble, selfless and powerful cause hit him straight to his heart.

That year, he discovered his purpose why he is still in business, and survived if not won the competition battle, only because of its higher purpose.

Now that Bo's Coffee, as a brand and as a company has grown successfully, Steve realized that his power to help is not limited to keeping the tenure of his growing employees, uplifting the lifestyle of coffee farmers, but surprisingly including other farmers and rural communities that are struggling to make ends meet.

"I have something in my hand. Something powerful," he said explaining further that these social entrepreneurs and their farming communities can grow with the company.

If it was not for these new-found vocation, Steve confessed, Bo's Coffee as a business can already take the slow-paced lane.

He said Bo's Coffee is comfortable where it is now. It found its place. The goal is to bring more Filipinos to succeed with the brand.

"This is something I like doing. I believe in sustainability," Steve's heart now is captured by teaching his adopted communities "how to fish", rather than giving them short-lived goodies.

"Sustainability is the best form of advocacy," he is convinced.

What is clear and profound Steve discovered, is he knows the purpose of Bo's Coffee's success. Not to make him known, make him richer, but to make other people find the comfort and life they ought to have.

"Money is not my destination. It is just a fuel, or the vehicle to reach my destination," he spoke almost shyly.

The truth is, accomplishment/success finds its place not in accolades and achievements, extravagant lifestyle but in living with wisdom knowing what really is the purpose of being alive, and for his case, being able to hold the power in his hands of making everyone part of the business, a winner.