Barrio Cup is One

Barrio Cup Team (minus me :( )

Today marks the first anniversary of Barrio cup! Wow. I feel like we just blinked and now we are here. What a rollercoaster of a year it has been.

January 23, 2020. This was the day my siblings and I started talking about putting up a business. To make the long story short, milk tea was our unanimous choice.

It started as a dream, and now we are here celebrating our first year!

Putting up a business, how small it may be, in the middle of a pandemic is no easy feat. But we took the risk and in unexpected turn of events, this pandemic has been blessing in disguise for us.

Anniversary Milk Tea

The journey was not easy. We started from zero and with no prior business acumen. With sheer determination and passion, we planned and executed everything ourselves; from researching about milk tea, flavors, teas, suppliers, packaging materials, product costing, logo designs, name of products, marketing strategies, etc. We had to brainstorm via videocall since the three of us are living in different zip code (Taguig, Butuan and Lanuza). Communicating was another struggle, with the internet connection in the province being crappy, but we came through.

We gave our first milk tea to our community frontlines as a way of appreciating their efforts. We included a short letter for them.

Like a rollercoaster ride, we had experienced our fair share of highs and lows of doubt and uncertainty. But even during our lows, we celebrated it. We used the feedback and criticism as tools to get better at what we do.

We also gave out free milk tea and a short letter of appreciation to our teachers for their dedication in teaching kids during this hard time.

We would have never reached this milestone without people supporting us.

We still have a long way to go, but the difference from a year ago, is that our vision is clearer now. We are motivated and excited on what the next years will bring. Growth, challenges, highs and lows, we will welcome them with grateful and curious hearts.

If you are dreaming of starting something, it may be overwhelming at first, but like what we did, we took a leap of faith and the rest is history. All you have to do is to take that first step.