Where’s Marcel? – in the Philippines

Where’s Marcel has opened its first cafe outside Australia – in Manila, the Philippines.

The Philippine branch on Pearl Drive in Ortigas is the company’s third store after Sydney and Melbourne.

Where’s Marcel? coffee founder Marcel Ruggieri said “there’s very good foundations here for specialty coffee,” based on the company’s market research.

Aside from the cafe, the company sells wholesale processed beans, through a principle of farm to table they call “crop-to-cup.” Through this, the company will assist local farmers in growing beans and buy directly from them.

“To operate ethically should always be a benchmark for… life. Not just in a hospitality sense, but everything we do,” Ruggieri said. “We’re improving the quality in the cup, we’re improving the training and services to the clientele.”

He said plans to expand the company’s wholesale operations in the country are set in the coming year.

“The retail front gives a cafe experience; it’s also an opportunity to showcase our coffee, and train and develop staff… it’s really a great platform to demonstrate.

“With regards to our wholesale operations, we focus on educating and building our clients’ business. So when we supply coffee, we’re not just supplying the bag of beans,” he said.

The cafe will complement its coffee with Filipino dishes and desserts prepared by Filipino chefs Sau del Rosario Christine Paredes.

Founded in 2014, Where’s Marcel? got its name from a blunder.

“Funny enough, at a farm, they lost me,” Marcel Ruggieri, founder of the cafe, told the press during the cafe’s launch. During a trip to Brazil to source beans with his team, Ruggieri lost his away around, prompting his companions to ask, “Where’s Marcel?”

“The joke kind of stuck through that trip.”