Pinoy cafe brand makes NZ ripples

In our conglomerate, our pilot project and hero brand is Epiphany Café

A Filipino café brand is making a name in New Zealand which it now hopes to replicate elsewhere.

After sweeping numerous awards abroad since establishing its roots in New Zealand, Epiphany Café will lead its mother conglomerate Smokefree Innotec Inc.’s (SFIO) veritable raft of hero products in its global expansion.

“In our conglomerate, our pilot project and hero brand is Epiphany Café. And all of the capabilities that are strategically acquired in the last three years to be part of the conglomerate is actually enabling and supporting epiphany café’s global expansion,” SFIO Inc. CEO Jeths de Jesus Lacson said in an interview on Daily

Tribune’s “Straight Talk.”

Lacson said part of the company’s expansion strategy is tapping into Filipino communities in the US.

Goal is global

“When we conceptualized Epiphany café in 2013, our aim was to go global, particularly setting up shops in the US. We focus a big chunk of our research on this market,” Lacson said.

One of the most interesting observations De Jesus made about the changing dynamics of the F&B industry is that people nowadays are looking for one-stop shops.

“Ten years ago, people have time to look for options. Now we want few ones to serve our diminishing time,” Lacson said. “So, what we have done in Epiphany is structure the model in such a way we can speed up everything without compromising the product.”

Known for its donuts, Epiphany sells specialty pastries and coffee.