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.
