Benguet café perks up online presence amid the pandemic

Baguio-based SME, Kape Umali partners with Converge to reach and expand its customer base during the pandemic.

Kape Umali, the best-kept secret in Baguio that only true locals know, had a crisis that many small local businesses are all too familiar with.

Aside from its ‘birthplace’ in Baguio City market, it opened a store in Mines View Park. A natural tourist draw, the Park is a strategic location for the cafe but it has been a relative ghost town since the pandemic hit.

“When the pandemic started, it was too quiet around here. It was difficult to even get customers inside the store. What was important was to have at least one sale, but it doesn’t always happen. We had to close at one point but reopened eventually. And we managed to distribute coffee to the communities here,” said John Martin Velaso, employee at Kape Umali.

John Martin Velasco, manager of Baguio coffee chain Kape Umali shares how Converge allowed their shop to continue servicing customers from order to delivery amid the pandemic.

The online marketplace was the natural direction for many businesses, and Kape Umali was no exception.

“We were able to get clients online through our webpage where we interact with most of them,” said the 20-year old business management student.

On the technology side, connecting with customers was easy; Kape Umali is hooked on the fiber broadband service of Converge in its Mines View branch.

“We were limited back then to mobile data and it was too weak for us to communicate with the head office and with customers. When Converge came to Mines View, we signed on immediately, and we can talk to customers easily now, not to mention deliver their orders much quicker,” John shared.

But aside from making their online presence known, John had to work on his people skills too, to keep more customers.

“I used to just rely on my co-workers to do the socializing when customers come in. But since I’m the only one here now in this branch, we have to reach out and be friendlier and make sure these customers remember us when we talk online,” noted John.

With Kape Umali and its four other branches in Baguio getting back on its feet in retail sales and continuing distribution, it’s now in the process of strengthening both online and offline relationships with customers.

“The number one lesson I got from this is to really take care of one’s customers. I discovered how important that is during this time when no one is going out. They’re also risking their health when they go out, so we need to take care of them too,” John ended.

Kape Umali uses flexiBiz Day 50, from the flexiBiz broadband plans. True to its name, flexiBiz Day is an SME-focused product that offers entrepreneurs flexibility in their broadband connection, boosting their speed during the day, when they need it the most.

With its two variants, flexiBiz Daytime and flexiBiz Peak, Converge has given SMEs the optimal choice in strong, reliable pure fiber internet with flexible speeds. The boosted speeds during the day or steady speeds 24/7 of the Converge flexiBIZ plans can surely help increase productivity. For more information on broadband plans and offerings, go to convergeict.com/SME.