23 September 2022, Cagayan de Oro City - 56 aspiring coffee connoisseurs participated in the 1-day seminar-workshop on Coffee Shop Businesses Basics with Barista Training conducted by the Cagayan de Oro - Trade and Investment Promotions Center (Oro-TIPC) in partnership with Jamaican F&B Training Center, Inc.

Oro-TIPC Assistant Department Head Raelita Legaspi welcomed the participants to the seminar-workshop, which she described as timely in view of the region’s rising profile as a producer of competitive quality coffee and the reopening of the local economy, which encourages people to go out more and more.

In his segment on Putting Up a Coffee Shop, Kape Mindanaw owner Richard Rejas shared his knowledge of the coffee value chain and the business model of his company. According to Mr. Rejas, entrepreneurship is an attitude and a drive to innovate or transform in order to provide a higher-value product to fill a need or want. The value-addition enables entrepreneurs to command a higher price and compete on the open market.

In the subsequent Coffee Talks, Jamaican F&B Training Center proprietor. Renato Sumania showed participants how to start a brick-and-mortar coffee shop and a pop-up coffee shop, discussing gains, challenges, insights, and ways forward. He also discussed financials, walking participants through Investment requirements and prospective returns.

In the final segment on Barista Techniques for Serious Learners, Mr. Tsuneo Namata, owner of pop-up coffee shop Yokoso Café, introduced and demonstrated the use of must-have machines for every coffee shop, showing participants how to make espresso, drip coffee, special mix coffees, iced coffees, and latte arts.