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Coffee For Peace

For Filipinos, coffee has many uses: it can be poured into rice, bread can be dipped into it; it can relieve hangover, and it can take away sleepiness. But for Joji Felicitas Pantoja of Coffee for Peace, “Coffee is their way to help improve farmers’ livelihood, to care for the environment, and to promote peace.

Coffee for Peace is a corporation in Davao. It has Coffee Shop and Abaca coffee for trading as business. Couples Dan and Joji Pantoja started it, with the help of some friends who also believe in their advocacy. Part of the earnings of the corporation goes to “Peacebuilders Community”, a group that pushes for non-violent actions for peace.

Arabica Coffee of the Natives

There are two reasons for putting up Coffee for Peace Café: Joji’s fondness for coffee and coffee’s increase in demand, “Coffee is the number 2 largest traded liquid product in the world next to oil.”

Because of its high quality, good taste, and low caffeine content, Joji uses Arabica beans. She directly contacts the 12 farmer tribes of farmers in Mindanao in Cordillera for the coffee’s supply.

“Farmers know the market potential of coffee. If there are buyers, they sell it equivalent to the price of Coffee for Peace. Now, the farmers already sell the Abaca coffee for Php 200 per kilo from Php100-140 before, which is dictated by the capitalists buyers,” said Joji.

 

Aside from the people who live in Davao, international NGO executives, foreign missionaries, visiting diplomats, and local business leaders also orders from them. Even if there are a lot of Coffee shops today, she does not see this as a problem. “They are not our competitors. They are the potential buyers of quality Arabica coffee produced by our partner-farmers trained in fair trade.”


Right Treatment to Employees

Joji also learned in the training that she should treat her employees well. “The salaries and benefits my employees get are all based from the law, they also get free meals and transportation,” said Joji.

Based from her experience, clear communication is important in a business. “When I went home after the training, I made them a job description – what is expected from them and how they would be reviewed. This would be my basis if I had to raise their salaries. I also wrote the employee’s handbook and evaluation form, which I made sure they understand well.”

Included in Joji’s plan is to franchise Coffee for Peace Café. “Right now, I was able to sell the right to use the name Coffee for Peace in Canada because I already have a roaster partner there,” Joji said.






Coffee for Peace Center
McArthur Highway, Matina
8000 Davao City, Philippines
Tel: (+63 82) 296 1053
Email: info@coffeeforpeace.com
Website: http://www.coffeeforpeace.com




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MOONDISH: For Every Filipino Around the World

Filipino food is one of the things being missed by millions of Filipinos working or living abroad. For Rufino ‘Jun’ Manrique and wife Ana, the way to keeping the islands close to many a nostalgic Filipino’s heart is a can of laing with the Moondish brand. Jun and Ana are pioneers in the production of canned laing—taro (gabi) leaves and stalks cooked in coconut cream, seasoned with ginger, chili and other spices—and their company Moondish, Inc. has been supplying Filipinos overseas with the traditional dish for almost a decade.

From Neighborhood Bakery to a Network of Dealers in Schools

Working at home in Moonwalk Village in Las Piñas, the couple’s first business venture was Moonbake Breadhouse in 1991. “It was a garage turned into bakery. ‘Yung hiniram namin na P50,000 capital mula sa mga kaibigan ay ginamit namin para pambili ng bakery equipment,” recalled Ana. “It was a typical neighborhood bakery. We sold pandesal. Ang mga naluma na at hindi nabebenta na pandesal ay gagawin naman naming pudding,” Ana added.

Three years after, the couple developed P1.0 chocolate crinkles. The taste and price of the crinkles was such a hit to students. The business flourished leading to buying of additional vehicle for deliveries and transportation, hiring of professionals like food technologist, sales people, accountant, etc., and renting another place for production. “It was an all-time high talaga. Imagine, from 1 baker, naging 100 na ‘yung empleyado namin! Kaya we thought of professionalizing the business. Inayos namin ‘yung system, pumunta kami sa different government agencies para alamin ang mga requirements, we had consultations and we improved our packaging,” shared Ana.

Laing in Can: The Dream Product

This success was cut short by the Asian financial crunch of 1997. Prices of imported flour and other raw materials shoot up affecting the profitability of the business whose market cannot absorb a corresponding price increase. This prompted Jun and Ana to look for other business opportunities.

This time, tinaasan na nila ang kanilang pangarap – they dreamed of coming up with a product for export that is not dependent on imported inputs, preferably utilizing agricultural local materials, with a long shelf life. In their search for a new product, Jun and Ana found themselves at the office of the Food and Nutrition Research Institute (FNRI) under the DOST (Science and Technology), looking at available food technologies that are just waiting to be produced commercially. “Nung makita ko ‘yung laing in can, na-amaze ako. Sabi ko, ‘Wow naka-lata na!’ tapos 1 year pa ‘yung shelf life. Tinikman namin, parang niluto lang sa kitchen, hindi lasang galing lata,” exclaims Ana. “That same day, we decided to adopt the technology for canned laing. Nag-fall in na dun lahat ng dream namin for a product: something unique, exportable, uses agricultural and local materials, at may mahabang shelf life.”

So, in August 1999, the couple put up Moondish Foods Corporation, an experimental venture with equipment leased from the Department of Science and Technology (DOST) through the “technology business incubation” arrangement. Moondish laing was put on display at the Asian Ethnic Food Festival where its close-to-home product quality instantly caught the interest of the market. “Maganda ang naging reception sa product. It was a good venue to launch a product for export and to gather feedback on price, taste, and packaging,” shared Ana. While still producing using DOST facilities, they were able to get their first break involving an order of 700 cases of Moondish Laing for Guam.

Giving Back To Community

Moondish gets their raw materials from 200 small farmers in Los Baños, Laguna and Bicol region. One group has even formed a cooperative to facilitate the partnership that is not only limited to production but also to consolidation and drying of taro leaves. To ensure quality raw materials, they trained the farmers on good agricultural practices like proper water management, crop production using quality, proper drying of taro leaves, etc. “Kasi sa food industry ngayon, dapat you collaborate with your suppliers kung ano ang quality standards na gusto mong i-supply sa iyo. Maraming food hygiene na dapat i-observe din on their part kasi very critical din ‘yung kalinisan sa raw materials na ipo-process namin,” shared Ana. “Yung iba naming farmer-parters ay nakapag-patapos na ng mga anak sa college, o di kaya’s nakabili na ng sasakyan. Naging productive at sustainable sa kanila ‘yung partnership,” Ana proudly relates.

From the initial output of 30 cases a day, the company now produces 300 cases a day, increasing employment from 14 people to 70. Today, Moondish products find their way onto shelves serving Filipinos in Canada, United States, Australia, Europe, Middle East, Guam and Japan. Moondish passes the rigorous standards not only of the Bureau of Food and Drugs (BFAD), but also of the United States Food and Drug Administration (USFDA). Moondish products are certified ‘halal’ by the Islamic Dawah Council of the Philippines. They are also HACCP (Hazard Analysis and Critical Control Points) certified.

Moondish now offers 21 types of products involving 8 varients of canned laing, along with products such as Bicol Express, Pinakbet, Puso ng Saging, Camansi, Ginataang Ampalaya, and other tasty vegetable dishes. “Kung saan may Pilipino, nandun din kami,” shares Julia Manrique, Marketing Manager of Moondish and daughter of Ana and Jun.//

Moondish is looking for farmer groups that can supply pinakbet vegetables such as squash, talong, ampalaya, sili, etc. For those interested, please contact:

Ana Manrique

Vice President for Operations

Moondish Foods Corporation

71-B KKK Bonded Warehouse, DBP Avenue, FTI Complex, Taguig, Metro Manila

Tel: (632) 838-4301 loc. 3849 / 839-2057

Website: www.moondishfoods.com