We caught up with the brilliant and insightful Ron Dizon a few weeks ago and have shared our conversation below.
Ron, thanks for taking the time to share your stories with us today Alright, so you had your idea and then what happened? Can you walk us through the story of how you went from just an idea to executing on the idea
It started on a napkin. I remember when my mom sparked a conversation mentioning coffees that came from the Philippines—wait—coffee from the
Philippines?! That was back in 2017. This moment then turned into my own obsession of figuring out why and how this was
even a thing. My curiosity hit the gas pedal and all I could ever think about was finding out what Filipino Coffee was all
about. I spent a lot of late nights just researching and obsessing, and learning more and more about this one crop that
resides in the Philippines. I was in midst of my research when I was introduced to the Aeropress. Man, did that change how
I felt about coffee… Let me tell you that this is something you have to find out for yourself.
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There was something about this discovery process that shifted my mentality as a Filipino-American.
My parents brought me into the United States when I was four. Though I grew up in a Filipino household—if you know, you
know—my childhood and upbringing was heavily influenced by a more American lifestyle. I used to feel embarrassed in
being a part of these “Filipino things and innuendos”, however, in maturing, I’ve learned a lot from that. In being a part
of that generation of Filipino-Americans, this obsession of Filipino Coffee turned into a passion that wanted me to give
back to the Philippines.
To keep it short, the Philippines used to be a well-known coffee supplier worldwide around the early 1900s—let us
remind ourselves that coffee is a number two commodity in the world. This recognition drastically took a turn when
coffee rust hit and disintegrated almost all of these farmlands. Compared to other countries, there are four species that
exist in the 7,000+ islands of mostly volcanic rock in the Philippines—Arabica, Robusta, Excelsa, and Liberica. Most
countries just have Arabica.
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When we started roasting Filipino coffee, we used to roast at the Farmer’s Markets. To date, we make sure that we use a
Fluid-Bed Clean Hot Air Roaster to roast all of our coffees as this is the cleanest most efficient way to actually roast the
crop.
This roaster, about six feet tall and as wide as a wooden cargo pallet, was always with us at these Farmer’s Markets. People
used to see what we would do and we also enjoyed sharing that process. Aside from the Markets, we also served our coffee at
different pop-ups, catering, and other events both private and public.
Getting into this—something I never thought I would be doing—I knew this was going to be a challenge. It took a lot of
discipline and mental preparation to get ready for where we are at now.
With this new feat of running our own brick and mortar in Los Alamitos, CA, it has propelled our trajectory for putting
Filipino coffee back on the map.
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“Now I can drink black coffee.” This is what my Tito (uncle) had said when I brewed a cup from my aeropress for him one day.
This is the expression we want for everyone. We are very passionate about it because this is the quality that created the
name for coffee from the Philippines in the first place. We appreciate honesty and any feedback—you can tell us it
sucks—and we will do our best to take care of you and hone in on what these problem(s) is/are.
While the materialistic goal is to keep coffee in its purest form, we also love encouraging and emphasizing the ability to
experience moments like these. That said, we also enjoy sharing our platform for others to pursue their passions. If
you’re ready to do something, let’s go! Let’s do something that should’ve been done yesterday.
Anything is possible as long as you set your mind to it. The journey never ends.
Teofilo is my Tatang’s (grandfather) name, and my name is Ron Dizon, his grandson.
As always, we appreciate you sharing your insights and we’ve got a few more questions for you, but before we get to all of that can you take a minute to introduce yourself and give our readers some of your back background and context?
My passion for how things are made turned into my dream job, i remember when i was a kid all i played with was hotel wheels never realizing that i would never actually be apart of making a real car one day. My first car was a 1969 VW bug and it really taught me a lot about fixings cars. It ended up turning into a hobby and fixing/modifying cars and turned into a business in my early 20s i was selling performance parts, building motors, etc. So i started thinking about my future and decided to go to college for automotive engineering and committed my time to make this a professional career. While i was going to college i was working at Buena Park Honda Dealership because in order to be able to build cars i would need to know how to fix them and when i started at the dealership it made me realize the industry was changing and i couldn’t see myself here forever but i used it as a training ground to make me better. A year after graduation i get a call from my professor and mentioned if i was interested in a internship at American Honda Motor Co. i thought to myself that what if i could solve some of the industry inefficiency by taking this position in Instructional Design position training technicians. I was able to hold this position at honda for 2 years before moving in the Automotive Engineering at Honda to have to opportunity to prevent problems before the customers actually receive the cars. Another opportunity to work at Hyundai Technical Center to also improve vehicle engineering before customers receive it. Then my biggest leap was working at Toyota Technical Center which was the greatest experience, if you could see it as a dojo to what made Toyota the most successful automotive maker. The skills learned can absolutely be applied business and this is why many companies use Toyota Way to make them more efficient. After my almost 10 year career Toyota was moving to Michigan and had to decide if i was going to continue with the company but the decision was easy because i had to consider my wife’s and my kids future of not being able to grow up with grandparents, aunts, uncles, friends. So i decided to leave Toyota to move into a totally different industry which was aerospace working for SpaceX and what an amazing experience it made me look at a 100 year old industry and it can change and be built differently then the 100 year old practices. But i was really missing Automotive my passion and heart has been there, after almost a year a SpaceX another opportunity couldn’t have come at a better time. I started my career back in automotive with Faraday Future a brand new EV manufacturer. When i started we didn’t have a car yet, just drawings, and building structures that simulated our vehicle that we were building. In my head i saw the greatest opportunity that would allow me to be part of history, the difference with the companies i worked for was they were already established 70-30years at least beside SpaceX. I still currently work at Faraday Future and we starting with delivering vehicles in a couple months 8years later. From drawing to actually delivering a vehicle is an amazing accomplishment. While i was working at Faraday that’s when i started working on Teofilo Coffee Co, and between SpaceX and Faraday i started to realize that doing it differently will separate how i would introduce Filipino Coffee to the world , i not following anyone im just creating a company with a big why and a mission. Honestly the most proudest things are very simple for me i have great life and my family keeps me working hard to show them that anything is possible when you work hard. Im not trying to chase titles im trying to change my world and thats why the mission is to Give Back to the Philippines.
Any thoughts, advice, or strategies you can share for fostering brand loyalty?
I believe in being absolutely transparent when i started my company, i was really honest and would tell a lot of my customers from the beginning when i started at the farmers market if it sucks please let us know. I think just being honest and up front about the product to not even sell it has led us to why we are successful.
What do you think helped you build your reputation within your market?
We kept it clear about what Teofilos was all about, exposing our history in coffee and why are coffee should there amongst the others that people know about.
Contact Info:
- Website: www.teofilocoffeecompany.com
- Instagram: teofilocoffeecompany
- Facebook: teofilocoffeecompany
- Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/ronald-dizon-7824381b9/
- Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC8WCvAkDmV0Cz68DpLMiL2g
- Yelp: https://www.yelp.com/biz/teofilo-coffee-company-los-alamitos-2
- Other: https://solo.to/teofilocoffeecompany