13 Ways of Saying Thank You and win a Toblerone

Hello everyone. I'm running a small contest to celebrate the idea of saying thank you to people, places, events, and the novelty of what makes being in the Philippines great.

1. Blog post
In order to join, just do the following:

1. Submit a photo entry in the Thank You Day Museum on what you think Filipinos should be thankful for.
2. Post a Thank You Message on anything or anyone you are thankful for. 
3. Write a blog post that discusses your #1 and #2 entry. (with link to your entry)
4. Include a Thank You E-Card in your blog post. (You can also include a video if you like)
5. Post a comment with a link to your blog post.

Entries will be accepted until November 7. On November 8, five (5) entries that captured the essence of "thank you" will be announced as winner and shall get a box of Toblerone.

2. Photo Sharing and Status Message

Thank You Day contests will also run on the following social networks where the winner will get a box of Toblerone. Should you decide to join the blog contest and the ones listed here, please ensure that your entries are unique from each other.

1. Share your photo entry link in the Thank You Day Museum or your Thank You Message in any of the social network listed below with the hashtag #thankyoudayphilippines
2. Once done, post a comment sharing the url link. Please make sure your photo or message can also be found at the Thank You Day site. We accept links coming from:

• Facebook
• Yahoo! Meme
• Friendster
• Tagged
• Twitter
• Multiply
• Tumblr

Entries will be accepted until November 7. On November 8, one entry from each social networking site (total of 7) that captured the essence of "thank you" will be announced as winner and shall get a box of Toblerone.

3. Video

Thank You Day contest will also run on YouTube. Here's how to join:

• Post a thank you message on your YouTube channel. On the video description, just mention that such is a Thank You Message submission.
• Once done, please post a comment with a link to your video entry.

Entries will be accepted until November 7. On November 8, one entry that captured the essence of "thank you" will be announced as winner and shall get a box of Toblerone.

Starting a Coffee Shop Business

With Filipinos love for coffee, starting a coffee shop business is one opportunity that prospective entrepreneurs can look into. We see coffee drinkers willing to pay P50 to P150 per cup. Although a typical coffee would cost P10 to P15 per cup, the rest of the amount you pay goes to making the business operational and revenue generating.

In celebration of Philippine Coffee Month, the Philippine Coffee Board organized its first webinar last October 9 with the aim of helping entrepreneurs appreciate the coffee industry and the coffee shop as a business.

Pacita "Chit" Juan, Manny Torrejon, and Dr. Alejandro Mojica shared their knowledge and interact with the audience for 2 hours answering all questions received about the coffee industry.

Some facts that I learned in my interaction with coffee industry experts:

• Kapeng barako is made from liberica coffee beans.
• Benguet barako coffee is actually an arabica coffee variant.
• Robusta coffee is most popular among Pinoys and primary ingredient in most 3-in-1 coffee.
• Coffee production in the Philippines (around 25 tons a year) is not enough to meet our country demand (estimated 80+ tons per annum). As a result, we import coffee from abroad.
• It takes 2 to 3 years before a coffee plant can start producing beans that farmers harvest annually.
• The average coffee farmer is 50+ years old. It is a challenge as younger generation today are not interested in farming. The commercialization and advancement of key cities that were coffee production baskets before resulted to farmers (or their children) selling their land.

If you missed the webinar, you can watch it below and learn. Have fun!

How to Put Up a Coffee Shop and Choose Your Coffee Blend

Stay tune for more coffee events!