Australian coffee trading firm to invest P300M here

A big Australian firm is keen on putting up a coffee production hub in the country for its exports and eyes at developing a coffee shop franchise in the local market.

Mocha Coffee, a coffee roasting and trading firm of Sydney, is bent on investing P300 million to put up a coffee roasting plant here to produce premium blends and sell them to Australia and countries in Southeast Asia. The investing firm has forged a tie-up arrangement with local company EDSA Agro Industrial Corp. headed by businessman Florante dela Cruz.

In a briefing with director Antonio Reyes of the International Coffee Organization and Certifying Agency (ICOCA), a line agency of the trade department asked to develop the coffee industry, dela Cruz pointed out key investment areas which his foreign partners are looking into.

He said the Australian investors will help spur the country’s economic development via the export of high value coffee blends using local beans, the putting of coffee roasting plant and a coffee chain franchise development, all of which will be spearheaded by EDSA Agro.

"We have introduced a coffee foodservice brand for franchising to interested entrepreneurs," said dela Cruz, referring to the newly launched coffee chain Mocha Blends. The gourmet coffee chain has already opened two outlets and plans to open three more before the year ends.

"The venture will provide technology to the local market as well as thousands of livelihood to our fellow countrymen," said dela Cruz, adding that this will help revive the local coffee industry. Mocha Coffee specializes in roasting premium coffee blends using Arabica beans. Its 18 proprietary blends are consumed in over 200 coffee shops in Sydney alone.

It is planning to put up a coffee roasting company in the Philippines to support its expansion in the Southeast Asian region. "The idea is to make special coffee blends using local beans and export them to countries where there is demand for exotic blends. This will also support the expansion program of the group in the domestic coffee retailing market as well as its vision to export blends to other countries like Japan, Taiwan, Singapore, Hongkong and China," he said.

He said the roasting plant is a key factor where we can upgrade the price of our local coffees in the world market. "Our locally produced blends fetch better prices in the export, trade, specifically from gourmet coffee users," he said. Mocha Blends eyes the opening of 10 new outlets next year. Franchise applications are entertained at 3644971 or 4544904.