Intent Coffee team returns with Balay Coffee pop-up

The team behind Intent Coffee has returned with a pop-up café concept that applies the same values as before but now includes a plan to grow more sustainably.

Intent Coffee closed permanently in July 2021 after operating in Southgate Centre for 10 months. Co-owners Mavi Tolentino and Reika Herradura, both identifying as queer first-generation Philipinx, had wanted to "create a positive social and economic impact to the marginalized communities here in so-called Edmonton as well as uplift Indigenous coffee producers in the Philippines."

This month, Tolentino and Herradura opened the new pop-up, Balay Coffee, in Delavoye Chocolate's store at 10639 124 Street NW.

While the two original owners are creative and enjoy coming up with recipes and event ideas, Tolentino said they lacked financial expertise. The post that announced Intent's closure described how the owners "made bad financial decisions over the past two weeks out of desperation to keep our doors open and keep our livelihoods."

But that changed when Tolentino met their partner, Mario Pellerin, who has joined the ownership team.

"He's very much a spreadsheet guy. He loves math, he loves looking at hard facts like numbers and quantifying things," Tolentino said. "I think that was the missing element within the ownership team — the numbers person."

Another factor that has pushed the team to return was feedback from friends and former customers, Tolentino said. "I still work in the food industry, and a lot of people that I have formed connections with within the food industry, like customers or co-workers, have always been asking the past three years, 'When are you going to come back? We need it, we miss Intent,'" they said.

Tolentino works full time at Delavoye Chocolate. "At one point Antoine (Lavoie), the owner of Delavoye was like, 'We should just join, we should just merge,'" Tolentino said. The pop-up format allows Balay to start small — all the company has purchased so far is the bare minimum to make and serve coffee, and it's using Delavoye's kitchen equipment for baking.

The partnership makes sense, Tolentino said. "Chocolate and coffee, they're parallels … They're literally the two most cherished beans," Tolentino said. "They're kind of the same processes and where they grow, and also the socioeconomic conditions in the industry as well."

Delavoye is closed on Mondays, and by allowing Balay to use the space, it gets to share in a bit of profit. Delavoye's chocolate bars and other merchandise are also for sale while Balay is open. "Buying an espresso machine is like buying a car. It's not a joke," Tolentino said.

The pop-ups have so far been "freaking amazing," Tolentino added. "It was like a dream."

For the foreseeable future, Balay will operate on Mondays at Delavoye. The owners will also look for other businesses that are closed during the day on weekends and see if they can work out a similar arrangement as they have with Delavoye.

Tolentino hopes that in about a year, Balay will be able to buy a coffee roaster and rent an industrial space so that the company can roast and sell its own beans. The team then hopes to open their own café.