Quezon City ad agency operates own Starbucks inside office

MANILA, Philippines — A Quezon City office said it is the first office in the Philippines to have its own Starbucks branch.

In an interview with Philstar.com, Manpower for Advertising Services Agency Inc. (MASA) vice president Stephene Condino said it was a historic moment that their office now has Coastal Grounds Coffee by Starbucks. 

“Coastal Grounds by Starbucks is the very first Starbucks inside an office. It's a very historical moment because this Starbucks is different from the retail channel na nakikita mo sa labas. Like you go to drive thru, you go to the malls. This is completely different,” Condino said.  

“This Starbucks is more on office-based. So we work very closely with Nestle professionals who gave us the license and opening the way for us to operate our own Starbucks. We offer Starbucks because, not for myself or the top management, but as a business star icon, it's more about giving employees the chance to experience Starbucks coffee at a cheaper price,” he said.  

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Condino said that coffee price in their office is around 30 to 40% cheaper compared to any regular Starbucks out there. 

“But the beans and the experience and the taste remains to be the same,” he said.  

When asked how it was possible to have Starbucks in their office, Condino said they met certain criteria. 

“We're the first inside the office. So what happens was mayroon kasi tayong tinatawag na criteria for you to, to open a cafe, most importantly, if it's Starbucks. Now, given that the first criteria that we actually met is we there has to be at least 500 employees in the office. So you can see that we have 500 employees in the office.

“Number two is there has to be at least three kilometers away from the nearest Starbucks. So if there is a Starbucks two blocks away from here, we can't open that Starbucks here, because there will be competition.

"Number three is there is a specific target. So even if we have our own Starbucks by Coastal Grounds, if you cannot hit that target number of cups per day, hindi ka pa rin pwedeng mag-open.” 

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Condino is also the president