CeBu CeBoom CeBlog

Coffee Dream is a Cebu-based chain of coffee shops, often serving pastries, popular in Cebu especially among students and young urban professionals. It is one of Cebu’s successful home-grown coffee shop brands that has withstood strong competition with the entry of Manila and multinational coffee chains in the local market.

Instead of competing head-on with the giants, Coffee Dream has concocted a different formula that would capture a specific segment of the market untapped by these vehemoths. If Starbucks has American flavor, Coffee Dream is proud to offer the local flavor exotic enough to distinguish itself from the rest while not alienating the local tastebuds of the Cebuanos.

(more…)

The cart business in Metro Cebu has mushroomed since the advent of malling concept in the early 1990s. Before then, the only food items we knew that were mostly sold in a push cart were peanuts, ice cream, cotton candy, assorted fruits, squid balls, tempura, and fresh fish. Vendors had to trudge long distances in the city streets or country lanes pushing their carts to as far as 25 miles per day looking for customers.

Today, the push cart business is not exclusive for ambulant vendors anymore who crisscrossed the city streets for customers. If the cart business of yore was not a significant economic contributor, today, it is a big business and is even classified as a sub-industry of the food retail industry. Today’s cart business is now operated by small and medium enterprises or individuals who can afford to lease a few square feet of mall space.

(more…)

Marco Polo Plaza Cebu is now in the last stages of a total renovation of its property, formerly known as Cebu Plaza Hotel. The property has undergone a massive renovation after it was acquired by its new owner early last year.

Cebu Plaza Hotel used to be the most celebrated hub for Cebu’s social and cultural events when it opened its doors to the public in the early 80s and, being the only five-star hotel in Cebu then, continued to be the hub of high-society activities until the early 90s when newer posh de luxe hotels opened almost simultaneously, effectively snapping up Cebu Plaza’s decade-long dominance.

(more…)