MANILA, Philippines - “Just serve the same good coffee, no more, no less.” Yes, Chit Juan is in her element.
The Le Bistro sustainable coffee concept of coffee advocate Chit Juan and business partners Reena Francisco and Lot Tan now share their secrets with like-minded licensees.
Freedom of choice, Reena says, is most important in planning a café concept.
“In our latest licensed store in Paseo Uno, Calamba, Laguna, the licensees are foodies who also studied culinary arts. Carlo Amistad and Therese Cruda finished in top culinary schools and would like to practice what they learned as well,” she adds.
The basic pastries and muffins are supplied by Le Bistro’s commissary, a well-run kitchen where the most popular items are made fresh every day, but the local flavor comes from the licensees.
“Carlo and Therese are excited to bake their specialties, and we are willing to let them try their hand at it,” says Chit. “The important item for me on the menu, after all, is the coffee.” Coffee will be the gold standard in every Le Bistro sustainable coffee location.
Chit, Lot and Reena are coffee lovers and they make sure that all the coffee concoctions served at Le Bistro come from local farms, and ingredients from local sources. Chit personally inspects the coffee they buy from female communities around the country.
“It takes years to learn this trade and to perfect the buying and sorting of coffee,” explains Chit.
“It is something already etched in our DNA and we cannot help but share the experience,” Lot hastily adds.
And so two years after they opened their first 10 stores, Le Bistro is now open for business.
“That means the business of licensing Le Bistro sustainable cafes. Exactly in July 2009, we opened our first store model. After making sure that all ingredients could be sourced locally and that we could deliver the taste we ourselves would be happy with, we built our back room,” she said.
Le Bistro sustainable coffee may be a little different in its approach to franchising or what the owners call licensing. The latter allows you to use the name through a license, provides you logistical support but gives you the much-needed freedom of choice.
“I‘ve been through the cookie-cutter model, and every franchisee wants to deviate,” says Chit. So this time, Chit gives them the freedom to choose their food other than what is suggested by the back room. The only non-negotiable food item is her coffee — make that Philippine coffee.
Le Bistro offers store-within-store concepts and stand-alone cafes.