NEARLY an hour’s commute
from the city, walking distance from the venerable Miag-ao Church and its
ornate façade, is a café with an artisan touch. Boasting delicious pizzas and
waffles paired with unique and weird names - Meatzilla the café’s go-to pizza
for carnivores and Choco Obama their staple chocolate drink- upped by interiors
that will have any avid Instagrammer frothing at the mouth with mason
jar-themed fixtures and all the café’s many feed-ready details.
Café Diem almost seems out-of-place in
Miag-ao’s quiet rural landscape, but its founding duo have built the business
to become part of the town’s character, and even city-dwellers are taking
notice.
Literally built from the ground up by
young entrepreneurs Mark Alvin Lee Guarin (28) and John Christian Fullon (27),
Café Diem is a play on “Carpe Diem” or Seize the Day, a mantra this self-made
twosome takes to heart.
Their road to Café Diem was never an
easy ride. Coming from different fields - Mark Lee being an Information
Technology graduate from Central Philippine University and John Christian, a
licensed Nurse from West Visayas State – they started their businesses from
scratch with money they had saved up on their own. First deciding to become
business partners in 2011, they put up an outsourcing company that thrived at
first but tanked after, the two admit, they mismanaged the finances. What
followed was another business that failed after a year’s time, an internet café
that catered mostly to Koreans.
But loss and failure never discouraged
Mark and Christian, after delving briefly into the corporate world, building
networks and gaining experience, they reunited in 2014, and being coffee-lovers
themselves came up with the idea for Caf̩ Diem Рa cozy hangout space in
Miag-ao that could accommodate students from the town’s two universities.
“We
hope that one day Café Diem can change the way coffee shops are presented to
customers,” Mark Lee shares, talking about the café’s unique brand and
ambiance, opening up about their plans to open up a branch here in the city.
The two admit that being young
entrepreneurs can be a “double-sided blade” – at one end you have fresh ideas
and all the energy in the world to accomplish your goals, the drawback being
some people may not take you seriously at first because of your age.
“You
have to be brave. If you don’t risk, grow and go, you wouldn’t succeed in the
first place. We poured in everything we had into Café Diem, every single
centavo in our bank accounts. This gave us the insight to value our business
more and to take good care of it, so that it doesn’t end up like our other
businesses that failed,” recounts John Christian.
Their advice to other aspiring
entrepreneurs: “You have to think practical,” live within your means and never
be pressured into subscribing to every needless trend and fad. “You have to
understand that if you’re just starting out, you’re not going to see the profit
right away,” says Mark Lee, sharing that you may not be able to harvest the
fruits of your labor right away, but every step towards building your business
is its own reward.
Alvin Lee Guarin and John Christian Fullon
The pair stresses that it also pays to
always be on your feet, to account for every aspect of your business, and to
evolve and change with the times. “Don’t be complacent, Man-up and Prepare for
the worst. Ready yourself always for whatever will happen,” said Christian.
With Café Diem celebrating its first
anniversary last December, and the groundwork for new expansions coming into
play early this year, Mark and Christian are armed and ready to seize each new
day, maybe with a cup or two.
Photos from the Official Cafe Diem page
