The interest by consumers in the coffee house industry is sweeping the country. DUNGOG Cafe is positioned to bring this to the Busay Hills, Cebu City area. It is a spot frequented by both locals and tourists for its captivating beauty, cool air, and peaceful vibe. It is also the highest point for viewing Cebu City and nestled in this area are other notable tourist destinations. Tourists visiting Busay Hills require more than just coffee and tea, pastries, and snacks, but also a comfortable place to meet, hold a group discussion, or simply sit quietly, work, and read. There are several coffee shops in the area, but they are frequently overcrowded and do not offer the right combination of factors for everyone.DUNGOG Cafe, an inclusive form of sustainable tourism organization that prioritizes local Deaf talents and qualified hearing advocates of the Deaf community, unconventionally departs from credential-based hiring and even traditional goal-setting towards building an innovative, high-performance, and high-growth business. It will be the first coffee shop in Cebu that employs mostly Deaf staff and Hearing advocates for Deaf culture. Its main operations are focused on selling not only coffee beverages, cafe products, and signature merchandise but the selling of meaningful inclusive cafe experiences with every visit. Its space concept's ingenious creativity is targeted to DUNGOG Cafe's design elements which address major aspects of the Deaf and Hearing inclusive cafe experience in every visit. Having an inspirational mural on inclusivity and sustainable tourism done by Deaf artists in a built environment where space, proximity, mobility, sensory reach, lighting, colors, vibrations, acoustics, interesting Deaf culture awareness visuals, surfaces with low-glare effects, hearing staff's FSL fluency/ASL awareness, Deaf artistry on merchandise, identifiable staff aprons, and even technology on communication assistance breaks inclusive barriers and creates an open environment for inviting interaction that will lead to a full DUNGOG Cafe experience. To top all that, the sign language fingerspelling on DUNGOG's signage is the first notion that will sparkinterest in customers and hint at what they are to expect.Apart from our assurance of quality coffee and cafe services, the opportunity of experiencing inclusivity in a productive yet relaxing picturesque location and the subtle inculcation of Deaf culture awareness create a huge competitive advantage for DUNGOG's operations among other cafes in Cebu City. In addition, the project envisioned a Deaf-friendly service economy that would raise awareness of the Deaf community, its culture, and language. When it comes to those who are Deaf or Hard of Hearing, discrimination is rampant in the Philippines. The cafe aspires to reduce stigma and raise awareness. DUNGOG Cafe is to operate in a rented commercial space in Cebu Transcentral Highway, Brgy. Busay, Cebu City. It is strategically positioned at the highlands of Cebu City, 7 kilometers away from Brgy. Lahug and it will take about 15 minutes drive going there. The interior design of the building will focus on projecting a relaxed atmosphere. DUNGOG Cafe will be divided into different areas. Some will have tables and chairs, another will have large couches and chairs, end tables, coffee tables, bookshelves filled with books and magazines. A sound system will be installed so that the mellow music can be heard throughout. There is also an open-air balcony that offers a vantage viewpoint of Sudlon National Park’s mountains and the surrounding Central Cebu Protected Landscape. Staying up late in the afternoon in DUNGOG Cafe will enable customers to enjoy the sunset while staying until the evening will unleash a fairytale-like scene as one gazes into the colorful Cebu City skyline- a perfect backdrop to a night of romance. DUNGOG Cafe will provide a friendly, comfortable atmosphere where the customer can receive quality coffee, food, entertainment, and service at a reasonable price. Not only that, the proponents' primary goal is to open a coffee shop as a revenue-generating enterprise that can also create employment opportunities for the Deaf population to improve their living conditions. DUNGOG Café will focus its marketing activities on reaching deaf advocates, social groups, international and domestic tourists, academic groups, a nearby community, young professionals, and business groups. Our market research shows that the dominant markets for age are the ages between 31-40 years old; thus, DUNGOG Café will consider conducting marketing collaterals for the age bracket and in terms of Gender, female is dominant with 71 percent, this means that DUNGOG Café will be more feminine in marketing approaches. The advertising and promotion will take several avenues. To steer the market to acknowledging and patronizing DUNGOG as a new player in the coffee shop industry, tarpaulins will be posted strategically in high-traffic areas and flyers will be given away to advertise the opening of the shop. Social Media will be highly used to promote the brand and generate leads for the business. A website will also be built to showcase the business' key activities and resources, value proposition, strategic partners, and CSR campaigns. In addition, DUNGOG will partner with DOT and local tour and travel organizations and be officially included in tour itineraries. DUNGOG’s direct competitors will be other coffee shops located near the Busay area. These include Crate Coffee, Dolce Cafe, Bo’s Coffee and Starbucks Coffee which will be operated as a Partnership. The proposed project cost is ₱2,500,000.00 which will be financed via bank loan. With the nature of the business, all partners are entitled to equal shares of profits or any liabilities. In the long run, as the company will grow, DUNGOG principals plan to open 10% of its shareholdings to qualified employees as part of tenure benefits which will also strategically benefit the company as staff becomes more invested in the company. Thus, adjustments to stock shares will then be made accordingly should it be the case.Overall management will be the responsibility of the designated Café General Manager, one of the owners of the Cafe. A major emphasis of DUNGOG Café is to hire the local Deaf community. Four hearing staff members will make up roughly 30% of the total 12 individuals, while the remaining eight staff members, accounting for the remaining 70% of the manpower, will be assigned to Deaf employees. Hearing staff who are fluent in Filipino Sign Language (FSL) and at least familiar with American Sign Language (ASL) will be assigned to managerial and lead positions. DUNGOG Cafe will be an equal opportunity employer that not only promotes inclusivity while providing quality products and services but also recognizes diverse talent, rewards them, and helps them grow within the company with responsible management of operations control and direction. DUNGOG Cafe plans to grow as shown in our financial report, taken from our sales forecast. It aims to achieve an industry-standard 60% gross profit margin and reasonable operating expenses and to produce reasonable profits in the second and third years
