AFTER nearly a decade in Singapore’s hospitality industry, UST alumna Lourish Irene Bonete returned to the Philippines with a vision of opening a café that celebrates Filipino coffee, hospitality and culture — a vision that became “Barista Manileña.”
Bonete said the café reflects nearly a decade of experience in luxury hotels abroad, where she developed the service standards that now define her business and realized how little Filipino coffee culture was represented overseas.
A graduate of the College of Tourism and Hospitality Management (CTHM), Bonete spent almost nine years in Singapore, including nearly six years at Marina Bay Sands after earlier stints at Carlton Hotel and Carlton City Hotel.
The experience, she said, exposed her to the level of service expected in internationally recognized hotels, lessons she later carried into entrepreneurship.
Her time abroad also highlighted what she believed was missing from Singapore’s café scene.
While cafés featuring Vietnamese, Japanese and Korean concepts were common, she rarely encountered one centered on Filipino coffee and flavors.
Batangas and Cavite provinces, for instance, grow the Liberica or kapeng barako variety, while other provinces grow Arabica and Robusta beans.
“Walang representation ’yung Filipino café, which is nakakalungkot,” she said. “Sabi ko, bakit walang Filipino? May beans din naman tayong ino-offer. Kaya sabi ko, magtatayo ako ng Filipino-themed café.”
(There was no representation of Filipino cafés, which was saddening. I asked myself, “Why isn’t there a Filipino café? We also have coffee beans to offer.” So I decided to open a Filipino-themed café.)
That idea became the foundation of Barista Manileña, where locally sourced coffee beans and Filipino flavors such as ube take center stage alongside interiors inspired by contemporary Filipino design.
Bonete said she wanted customers to experience local products in a setting that reflects Filipino identity.
She opened the café in February 2021, when the Covid-19 pandemic made starting a business especially uncertain.
To keep expenses manageable, Bonete initially operated from her home and described the venture as her “pandemic baby.”
Instead of expanding rapidly as cafés emerged across Metro Manila after restrictions eased, Bonete spent the next several years refining the business.
She focused on improving the menu, building relationships with suppliers and establishing consistent service standards before eventually moving into a larger space with a dining area.
For Bonete, that deliberate approach stemmed from a lesson she learned while training in Singapore: customers may be drawn by a product or an attractive space, but they return because of the service.
“Bumabalik ang tao sa service,” she said.
(People come back because of the service.)
Reflecting on her journey, Bonete urged aspiring Thomasian entrepreneurs to be patient with the process rather than pursue immediate success, saying meaningful experience is built over time.
“Start from the bottom. Don’t hate the bottom. Don’t hate the process,” she said.
“You should love the industry first [and] have experience first,” she said.
