Digital Reporter
Robert A. Vergara Jr.
Maginhawa Street: multicolored tricycles ripping down the residential neighbourhood. University students prowling moving restlessly with the passage of time. Rows upon rows upon rows of eateries. For food entrepreneurs opting to tap the young, middle‑class market, this street in Quezon City is the place to be. In the past five years, the two‑kilometer main thoroughfare of UP Teacher’s Village has been food heaven: budget‑friendly restos where there is always something new, something hip.
It has a mix of new gastronomic experiences (a long list that includes noodle houses, Japanese joints, breakfast places, milktea shops, Korean grillers, unicorn cafés, to name a few) and recently‑built cultural hubs (such as a microcinema), which is why people never run out of reasons to come back.
But for the small business owners who have set up shop in this formerly quiet community, with the higher foot traffic comes a hurdle: rent. Rates for commercial establishments have skyrocketed over the years, with current fees going as high as P60,000 per month.
23‑year‑old Alexx Esponga and 21‑year‑old Kloyd Majam, who were students when they put up a rooftop bar Jess & Pat’s in other up‑and‑coming food hub Lilac, Marikina, are aware of this. Yet the young millennial couple still chose to transfer its operations to Maginhawa—a move they acknowledge as a “risk.”
During the first week of February, the café—known for coffee, milkshakes, burgers, and its indie music scene—reopened in a 110‑square‑meter space at the second floor of a commercial building at Maginhawa after it debuted in Marikina in 2016 and closed in September last year.
The price? The wider space along Maginhawa costs over P50,000 per month, a jump of 714.29% from their previous rental fee of P7,000 in Marikina.
SPACE
Over in Maginhawa, the café is roofed, just like the other establishments. An area that resembles (somehow) its former home is the veranda at its entrance, occupying half of the whole space, the other side being a closed, air conditioned area separated by a huge glass door. Wooden, minimalist-tables and chairs are everywhere, but are often pushed . Murals welcome guests, and bright lights from small hanging bulbs brighten the entire space.
“When we moved here, we didn’t want people to think that we downgraded, that we’re no longer a rooftop cafe,” Esponga, who started the business with her boyfriend while they were still entrepreneurship students at San Beda University, told SparkUp in an interview. “We moved to a closed area because what we could do in our previous location was very limited.”
She added, “We were called out by the police because of the noise, we were affected by storms, so there were really a lot of limitations, whereas here we can do everything, we can host more artists.”
With Maginhawa’s stature as a popular food destination, new players have to courageously face the fierce competition brought by other businesses in the area.
Esponga said the biggest challenge is standing out.
“We realized that we have to be really competitive because we feel like we’re in the real world already,” she said.
On the brighter side, their new location gave the business an advantage against other food establishments.
“One thing that I’ve observed here is spaces are small, so I guess that’s our advantage since our space is bigger with a veranda that gives some rooftop feels,” she said.
INDIE
The decision, Esponga said, is in line with Jess & Pat’s mission to “promote local artists and bring more people to the local indie scene.”
“Based on our market research, most of our patrons are from Quezon City. So that’s one factor why we were not afraid to move here, because we know that our customers are from here,” she said.
The two owners are avid followers of the local indie scene also see their move to Maginhawa as an opportunity to help more Filipino artists.
“There’s really a huge potential for Filipino artists to grow, a lot of people just bring them down,” Esponga said. “We want to embrace artists and say that they’re just as good as lawyers and doctors, and they’re just as important and they should pursue what they’re doing.”
To compensate for the bigger rental, Majam said they plan to increase their sales and stage more local acts.
“In Marikina, we had to pay the landowners an additional P5,000 for every event we mounted,” Majam said. “Here, since the rental fee is already fixed, we can stage events as much as we want.”
He said they now put more efforts to market their food offerings, which include its staple menu and some promo like unlimited chicken wings.
“What we do now is we market the food, we just don’t focus on being service‑oriented. We are promoting our food, so we have a source of income even without gigs,” he explained.
By April this year, Jess & Pat’s will also have a concept store featuring crafts by local “artpreneurs.”
While the two are bullish on the business, they admit that it will take a long time for them to reap the reward of taking the risk.
“We have no high expectations yet since we are just starting to invest in the market and location, so we’re just projecting at least 3% increase in our monthly sales by April,” Majam said. “The operation really depends on the month. In our previous location, peak season is from November to January.”
But the two are strong‑willed. “I believe that if you do something for a good purpose or if you are helping others, people will continue to support you,” Esponga said. “The success will just follow.”
