Dagop Coffee Roastery had its humble beginnings in the middle of the COVID-19 pandemic. It started from the mere selling of cakes and pastries from Sagada, Mountain Province to re-selling honey harvested in Benguet. The coffee inclusion in the business started when Mr. Klifford Batawig explored potential market opportunities for his aunt’s green coffee beans from Atok.
Selling multiple products at a time was proven to be difficult for Klifford. Having too many things to memorize and consider in terms of storage and marketing is not an easy task for a starting entrepreneur.
Considering the profitability of the products, he decided to stick with coffee products. From selling the green coffee beans from her aunt, he explored and worked on the idea of processing such green beans. Through hard work and investment, he learned how to roast green coffee beans for sale. This started the Dagop Coffee brand, which is one of the emerging home-grown and local coffee brands from the Cordilleras.
Dagop Coffee Roastery aims to market and promote the coffee produced by the Cordillera coffee farmers—the brand sees this as an opportunity to let people around the world experience the taste of Cordilleran Coffee.
When asked what about the greatest challenge in running the brand, Klifford said that it is how to run a business since he is used to working as an employee in a corporate set-up—a challenge he was able to overcome through the help of the Department of Trade and Industry (DTI).
On June 2021, Klifford was able to join the DTI Youth Entrepreneurship Program (YEP). A modular session on entrepreneurship is offered to the youth who are planning to start their own businesses or are managing their own businesses. Aside from these modular sessions on entrepreneurship, he was also a beneficiary of the Livelihood Seeding Program - Negosyo Serbisyo sa Barangay program, business consultancies, Intellectual Property and FDA-LTO registrations, and other product development activities. Other government programs and support were also provided. Through these, he was able to learn, develop, and improve his business management, operations, and products.
As of today, Dagop Coffee and Roastery has seven (7) partner cafes/restaurants/resorts which are the following:
- Don Paterno's Pizza - Central Buyagan, La Trinidad
- Peakcup Coffee - Aspiras-Palispis Highway, Baguio City
- The Red Soil Coffee Mfg. - BARP Building Bokawkan Road, Baguio City
- Alapu Resto - 120 LD Luzon Building, Dominican Road, Baguio City
- Cafe Kzar - Rm. 2, 2nd flr., Tan Building IC-01 Km.6, La Trinidad, Benguet
- Tara Usapang Kape - T.U.K - 15 M.H. Del Pilar St, Brgy. Burnham Legarda, Baguio, Benguet
- Three Little Birds Resort - Sitio Dagahoy, Anda, Bohol
As part of the coffee venture, he is now giving training and seminars with his friends to other coffee farmers/enthusiasts with the help of government agencies and local government units, like DTI, EMB, and LGU Kibungan. Some of the training or seminars conducted, to wit:
- Coffee 101- Appreciation Seminar" @ Sitio Legleg, Palina, Kibungan, Benguet.
- Coffee Roasting and Basic Equipment Maintenance @ Lay-odan Farms, Balili,Mankayan, Benguet. (together with The Red Soil)
- Usapang Kape @ DTI Hongkong thru Zoom (together with Ms. Lendilou Loon, Ms Eljean Dagohoy and Ms. Juliet Lucas the Regional Director of DTI-CAR).
- Coffee Business Opportunity Training for Coffee Farmers @ Camp 3, Tuba Benguet (with EMB, The Red Soil, and Kape Bantay).
To date, Mr. Batawig is being mentored by Mr. Edgar Kawig of The Red Soil to be more knowledgeable and enthusiastic about coffee. As a member of the youth sector, he is expected to be a partner in encouraging young people to engage in coffee business.
By: DTI - CAR
