The Whole Story

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Opening a cafe started with me marrying my wife. Back when we got married in 1993, I noticed she had the talent to bake anything, like cakes and pastries. 

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She had a good talent in cooking cuisines from different cultures, proving herself to be a good cook, and as she was cooking for families and friends, I was always told,

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"Mo, why don't you open a cafe or a bakery for her?".

 

I never got around to doing it, being skeptical with starting a bakery and if it would be successful. I never took the risk. But as she continued baking, I thought it would be good for her to have a bakery.

 

To me, I know she is going to be very successful because of the drive, charisma, and passion she has which comes from her beloved father who passed away. Josephine will not stop at anything in life unless she does it 100%, and that's why I feel that she'll put 100% here at Friend's Cafe. She learned everything from her father who was a very successful businessman in food business, and he did everything to his fullest, so I know she will also do everything to her fullest too.

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In 2018, this location was up for lease, and since I was doing just fine with my business, I thought I could handle a bakery. After talking to the owner, showing to my wife, Josephine, we have the lease to have a bakery and cafe. After a month of owning the lease though, it seemed that the pressure to run the bakery made it difficult for her to bake properly. Friends were telling me to cancel the lease, but I was not the type to take failure. I never talked to the landlord about cancelling the lease; I kept paying it without anyone knowing. 

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Sometime later, I had lunch with Josephine and just told her that it would have been nice if we had the cafe. She was no longer overwhelmed from running the bakery, and she liked where the bakery would be. I surprised her and told her that we still have the lease. Right then we got to work, then COVID-19 hit and again, we had to take a break. 

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Several months pass, there's a vaccine rollout, and finally, again, I can get to building this bakery for my wife. It's 2021, and now we have Friends Cafe, determined to have a success story that could not be stopped by obstacles in our way.