As we continue to celebrate Women’s Month, highlighting the accomplishments of women in our community, I feature here an interview I had with Julieta “Juls” Ramirez-Paltingca, entrepreneur and proprietor of the coffee stop that started to take Dumaguete by storm during the pandemic.
Legendary Eats: What inspired you to be in the Food & Beverage/Hospitality industry?
Juls Ramirez-Paltingca: During the time when I was still working in a BPO company, I saw a problem, a need, and an opportunity. BPO workers have to stay awake during work hours, and caffeine can definitely help us with that. To make an affordable coffee, I found local suppliers of native coffee (Dawis), and fresh milk (Valencia Farmers and Silliman Farm), and at the same time, I realized I could also help people in the community.
One of the reasons I keep going with this coffee stop venture is the support and encouragement from our suppliers. They always told me that they believed that one day, I will also be able to help them by buying their products in bulk.
And now I’m very proud to say that we are growing, together with our suppliers who believed in us.
LE: Can you share with us a proud moment or achievement in your journey as a lady entrepreneur.
JRP: Well, we started as a roadside coffee shop, with a capital of P1,000 only, and now, we have four branches, a commissary, and two vehicles for the business.
LE: What unique challenges have you faced as a woman in the hospitality industry?
JRP: As a woman in this industry, I have noted some challenges in our need to balance work and family life. Balancing work and life as a mother is difficult. It requires a determined well-being in terms of the physical, mental, and emotional states.
Thankfully, as women, we naturally have these innate characteristics: our motherly instinct, our feminine touch, and higher Emotional Quotient that greatly help develop the business, as well as the team.
LE: What advice can you give to women who wish to be entrepreneurs like you, or to women who are just starting their own ventures?
JRP: The beginning is always the hardest. You have to treat your business like it is your newborn baby who needs constant feeding and [diaper] changing. And just like a baby who came from you, just be confident that you do have that maternal instinct to know what exactly to do, or what is needed at the right time. And just like caring for a baby, you have to work hard, and even make sacrifices for it to grow.
LE: What is your favorite dish/drink in your menu at Kapeng Lokal, and why should we try it?
JRP: My favorite drink would be our Cocoa Macchiato. It’s a combination of local robusta coffee from Dawis, local fresh milk from Valencia, our in-house chocolate and caramel syrup.
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Author’s email: [email protected]
