Coffee franchise comparison: Figaro, Bo’s Coffee and Country Style.

This is an update about my post Jumping To The Coffee Industry, wherein I discussed about our interest on getting to the coffee business.

Here are some datas we gathered so far:

**I’ll sort these datas according to Square Meters (SQM)

CARTS AND KIOSKS COMPARISON: 3 to 20 SQM

**Click table to view full size.

ISLANDS AND MEDIUM SIZED SHOPS COMPARISON: 30 to 40 SQM

**Click table to view full size.

SEMI-FULL AND FULL STORES COMPARISION: 80 to 100 SQM

**Click table to view full size.

There are still some missing datas. If you guys have any experiences or inputs about these whole franchising thing, we will really appreciate it if you could share it with us.

Maybe I should also organize a poll about these three coffee companies. But for now, may I ask you guys which among these three companies you like best? Not limited to the datas above, but your experience as a consumer.

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Octoboy: Not your regular Japanese restaurant

Undecided where to dine last night, me and my younger brother strolled around Banawe area.  We’re looking for something different, somewhere we haven’t dined before. Then we found a small restaurant serving Japanese food. Octoboy Banawe.

The Food

I’m not sure if they’re serving octopus, because of the name Octoboy, but they have quite unique selections from their menu. No, they don’t serve sashimi or makis similar to our accustomed Japanese restaurants like Omakase, Saisaki or Terriyaki Boy. What they serve are Yakiudons, Takuyaki Balls, Japanese Pizzas and some rice toppings.

Well, me and bro is in a little tight budget so we got one order of Takuyaki Balls (6 pcs) and an eight inches Meaty Special Japanese Pizza. Originally bro likes the rice toppings, but I was quite intrigued by the Japanese Pizza so he has no choice but to comply with my choice. (LOL)

Bottomline: Food tastes good and is presented well. But as bro said, Japanese Pizza is just like Takuyaki Balls in pizza shape. Overall I enjoyed the food.

The Venue

I personally do not like the venue. The location is good, but the venue is terribly small and not a comfortable place to dine. They have a second floor, that you have to climb the narrow spiral stairs to get there. Basically it is not a recommended place for families to go to, or take someone on a date.

Octoboy's Kitchen

Price/Value For Money

For the two dishes we ordered, without drinks, we spent Php365.00. Food is nice but I think the price is a little high.

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Jumping to the coffee industry.

Not so long ago, we jumped into the automotive industry while maintaining our presence in the service/transport industry. Now, the year 2010, we are now venturing to another industry – The Coffee Industry.

No we are not going to start from scratch, instead we are looking for a coffee company to franchise. To why we are going to franchise or going to the coffee industry, the answer is still quite confidential. I’ll update you guys after we have already set it up.

OUR CURRENT PROSPECTS:

As of now we already contacted three coffee companies and already met some of them. Our first priority is Figaro.

FIGARO

Figaro is a local coffee company and as we see it, their  image and menus are good. Plus their coffee is already well known. They also have a new management which we think that the whole company is in a state of “New Beginning.”

But we were quite disappointed to experience two re-schedules of meetings, because they simply overlooked the appointment with us. Professionalism is very important, first impression is often the deciding factor.

Another thing was the presentation they have made did not live to their brand’s image. The power point presentation was mediocre.

**We also heard that some of Figaro’s branches already closed down. We still need to verify.

Figaro’s Franchise Fee: Around Php 1M (Tomorrow I will get the franchise kit to post a more detailed version)

Next prospect is Country Style.

COUNTRY STYLE

I love Country Style’s doughnuts, but I haven’t tried their coffee yet. A number of my friends and acquainted managers recommends this coffee company. I spoke with the company this afternoon and setup another formal meeting sometime next week. I’m still studying about Country Style. I’ll give feedback on my next posts.

Franchise Fee: Around Php 400,000.00

BO’s COFFEE

Bo’s Coffee is another local company with lots of good feedbacks about their image and franchise setup, but not-so-good feedback about their coffee. Among the three companies I spoke with, I say that Bo’s is the most professional. They provide good quality materials and their setup in the Franchise Expo 2010 was really nice. Their ambience is somewhat like Starbucks.

Same as Country Style, I’m still studying about Bo’s as well. I’ll give feedback about my research.

Franchise Fee: Around Php 600,000.00 – Php 650,000.00

I also would like to look into Coffee Bean And Tea Leaf, but I’m not so sure if they are open for franchise. Well let me see..

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Being My Own Guinea Pig.

With the recent progress on our company’s facility, we are now ready to add new services. We can now do car restoration such as car detailing, body repair, paint job, paint-less dent removal and installation of accessories.

But before we offer these services to clients, I used my own car to see if it’s already good enough for the public.

Just to give a little background about my car, I got my car on the year 2007. She was a gift from dad for my graduation. She’s  a 2.0L 4×4 bluish-black 3rd generation manual transmission Suzuki Grand Vitara with quite a number of dents and scratches. She has not been detailed for more than a year now, and just enjoys home car wash. She has a magic light visor Platinum tint that was installed by the car dealer: Suzuki Kalookan. I cannot recall whether this car has been undercoated or not, I’m not very particular with cars back then. I haven’t touched anything, no setup, no pimping or whatsoever. Even my mag wheels are just 15″ stock wheels.

It’s been 3 years now and the warranty is almost over… It’s now her time to shine.

What I have done with my car so far: (in no specific order)

1. Paint-less Removal. I found 28 dents on her and removed them one by one. Did it for about an hour and a half.
2. Repaint. I’m planning to repaint the whole car, but the budget is still not enough for me to do it. But I have repainted 3 panels of my car – where the worst scratches are.
3. New Floor Matts. Installed 3M Nomad floor matts with black and gray stripes. Complementing the interiors. I also installed custom made matts for my trunk.
4. New Head Lights and Plate Lights. Replaced my fog lamps, park lights, plate lights and low beam with Xenon Bulb Super White.
5. New Tints. I installed a full windshield magic black 3M tints.
6. Full Detail. Had an engine detail, Interior and Exterior Detail. Used Adam’s car care products.

Upcoming..

• I’m looking for 20″ Mag Wheels. A new shoe for her.
• Full Repaint
• Paint Treatment

Don’t get me wrong. I’m not doing these things just for the sake of pimping my ride. As the title states “Being My Own Guinea Pig,” I’m doing these for the company. If we did a good job, it’s me should experience it first so that I’ll be more confident it marketing our services. If we did a bad job, well, the more I should be the first to experience it so that I can correct it and solve the problem.

**

Every entrepreneur should be the first ones to experience their product and services.

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Flirting with Tumblr.

I’m not sure if the word “Flirting” is a good word. But for quite some time now I’m torn whether to blog on this blog or blog on my Tumblr.

Why I am enticed by Tumblr:

1. First perhaps I’m feeling a bit lonely here. It feels like I’m just talking to myself. Unlike in Tumblr, I can follow or be followed.
2. I can have my own “Circle.” Tumblr has this directory wherein you can surround yourself with like-minded people.
3. More time for content. It’s rewarding to maintain your own blog, but there are times that I spend more time on technical parts of it. Updating plug-ins, looking for more plug-ins, backing up, SEO, etc. rather than publishing new contents.
4. Easy to post anything. This is Tumblr’s trademark which they have capitalized well. It’s quite troublesome to upload photos here. I need to upload..wait..then insert – which sometimes fail. It really gets in my nerves every time it happen.
5. I can just reblog amazing stuffs if I don’t feel like blogging. And I could just “Like” a post if I don’t feel like commenting on it. There are times that I am just pushed to say: “Hey nice work!” just for the sake of letting the author know that I Liked their work.

Well the list goes on, but these are my important list to consider. I already looked for a way to migrate from WordPress to Tumblr, but I don’t think that I will be moving soon. I’m still weighing the pros and cons.

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Distraction.

One of my favorite game shows on TV is the show named Distraction. The concept is simple and funny: A simple question and answer game show with a little twist. Any participant who gives the wrong answer will be punished – Punishments like putting a snake inside their underwear, beating their car, etc..

It’s really funny when participants couldn’t get the right answer even to a simple question because they are greatly distracted.

HOW GOOD ARE WE AT DISTRACTING OURSELVES?

If we are working for a specific goal, here should be a simple illustration of how it should be achieved. If we work without any distractions, we are creating a clear channel from work to our goal. As a result, our goals can be achieved faster with better quality.

But there are times that we are just good at distracting ourselves (I’m guilty of this); That even a simple task that could be done in the span of 30 minutes, will be accomplished in an hour or two.

CUT IT

I easily get distracted at work when I started to open the internet. I tend to Stumble and Tweet, the next thing I know I already spent 30 minutes online. And my work still undone.

The first step to cut the distraction is determine what distracts you most. In my case, it’s the internet so now I make sure to accomplish my work first before going online. If there’s a need to go online, I make sure to control myself from launching Tweetie or TweetDeck – Sometimes even Safari. I check my mail via Apple Mail and calendar on iCal, rather than Gmail and Gcal.

Discipline is the key. Don’t temp yourself to get yourself distracted.

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Determination + Entertainment = Success.

Try to run on a treadmill for 30 minutes while staring on a blank wall. I’ll bet that you will be staring on the clock instead, counting down the minutes that you still have to go. 15 minutes have passed and you are already dying to get off the treadmill. The worst thing that could happen is your determination weakens and you’ll dread your next schedule for workout.

A rundown: You have the determination to work out and burn those calories. The only problem is there isn’t anything to keep you there.

Now try running the treadmill for the same duration, but this time there will be good music all over the room plus a television in front of you. It’ll make you stay there longer, and you won’t mind being in the same place on the next workout.

“If you keep people entertained, they don’t mind the sweat” says Eric Casaburi – Owner, Retrofitness

Determination + Entertainment, a simple recipe that is usually capitalized by companies which are in the fitness industry such as Fitness First and Gold’s Gym.

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GREAT WALL COOLBEAR AND TOP GEAR PHILIPPINES’ JEJEMON FAN ART.

I’m really not sure what to feel about this fan art of Great Wall’s Coolbear. It’s fun and viral over Facebook but at the same time it could affect the car and the whole brand’s image when it is associated with Jejemon. I am actually debating whether should I or not put this up on Great Wall Cars’ (GW Cars) Blog.

Well if you are asking what Jejemon is, I really don’t know how to explain it. Perhaps we could refer to this urban dictionary. Jejemon fever came out just recently, but they already have their official website.

*

After checking out those informations, what do you think? Is this Fan Art a good publicity for COOLBEAR and the whole Great Wall Cars or not?

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Shakey’s at Market Market Mall.

I’ve been all around Market Market yesterday looking somewhere I could have lunch at a reasonble price with free Wi-Fi, so that I could go online and download my emails while eating. Unfortunately, I’ve been all over Market! Market!, Serendra and Bonifacio High Street and I couldn’t find any.

Fiesta Mall, just across Market Market, on the other hand has a good free Wi-Fi – as long as you’re near Seafood Island or Hap Chan. Problem is, the sun is scorching hot so I prefer a place with aircon.

Now I am looking for a restaurant which is affordable, free Wi-Fi and has aircon. I finally settled with Shakey’s Market Market.

I ordered Bunch of Lunch, a good combo meal which just cost for PHP124.00. So afforadability.. check!

Next, it is Wi-Fi ready so I asked for the password. Unfortunately I cannot connect. I asked all the service attendants who came near my table to double check if whether the password given to me is correct. The waiter said that it is being used by their manager that’s why I cannot connect, he then said that he’ll advise me after the manager is done with the internet. Until after I have already finished my lunch I still cannot connect.

I was quite disappointed because aside from the food, I went there in the first place to get an access on the free Wi-Fi. So Free Wifi.. X!

The place is nice and cool. The aircon is sufficient even it is very hot outside. So aircon.. check!

*

UPDATE:

I had lunch there at Shakey’s Market! Market! again today. Fortunately this time Free Wi-Fi is accessible! Yahoo! So Wi-Fi.. check!

By the way, I love Shakey’s Chick en’ Chips!

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Outstanding customer relation can make you a winner.

We Chinese entrepreneurs values friendship especially on business. We patronize and prioritize our friends’ or relatives’ product first before we go outside of the circle.

Example: I need brand new tires for my car. I will check-out first if any of my friends or relatives are in tire business. If so, I will patronize their product even if he’s price is a little higher than the outside supplier. This is how we show support with each other.

But as they said, everything has a weakness except God. Even that strong bond among Chinese entrepreneurs can be defeated…if the supplier or the merchant handles customer relation outstandingly.

This is my personal story.

I was looking for a back-up sensors to be installed in my car. One of my friend owns an auto shop so I sent him a text message asking for his price on two eyed buzz type sensors. At first it was going good, he replied “It costs PHP1,000.00. If you want, you can add a little so you can also have the indicator.” Then I replied, “Oh thanks! Does installation included or for a fee.” Then he replied “Yes included.” Then I asked, “Do you do home service or I will go to your shop?” He replied, “Come to my shop.”

After a couple of days I again sent him a text message, saying that I’m ready to go to his shop and have my sensors installed. After texting him, he didn’t reply. I went to work and after two hours, I again sent him a text message. Finally he replied, “Ok boss.” But after that something came up so I postponed the installation.

The next day, I’m now having those sensors installed so I sent him a message again. But again, no reply. I called him, not answering the phone. I find him very cold in attending my queries, and channel of communication is unreliable that I grew impatient and search for a new supplier.

I came across CCRV, located at Masambong, Quezon City. And man, they’re so easy to talk to. They’re married couple who has kept their shop for 11 years. They attended my queries very well, and they even gave me discount. Though their price is a little higher than my friend’s, I don’t mind paying extra to them.

Ms. Rose (I call her “Ate” (sister) Rose) who serves as the cashier told me that if I became a regular customer I can even pay them with post dated checks. They also have credit card terminal for them to be more buyer friendly. Mr. Bong (“Kuya” (brother) Bong), Ate Rose’s husband, has personally installed those sensors for me. They even served me Coke as I wait.

Because of their outstanding customer service, I was very delighted that I also let them install Platinum Magic Black tints on my car.

If this deal was a battle, Ate Rose and Kuya Bong is the winner. They defeated their opponent, even he is my friend, because of outstanding customer relation.

..........

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