A quaint coffee shop on Sandalwood Street in SSS Village Marikina stands out as a pioneering café that serves exclusively hand-poured, cold-brewed coffee. Overflow Cafe, founded and operated by a family of four women and their mother, is the realization of a long-cherished dream to create a business that resonates with coffee enthusiasts.
Overflow Cafe, as aptly named, symbolizes the abundance of blessings that the Crisostomo family has experienced over the years. It is a testament to the overflow of love from their mother to her children and grandchildren.
“We named it Overflow since this business was borne out of the overflow of blessings my family had experienced over the years and from the overflow of the love our mother have for us and her grandchildren,” said Michelle Crisostomo, co-founder and president of the Overflow House Inc.
“The business is, in fact, a tribute to my mom. At 69, she devoted her life to raising her children and grandchildren. This cafe is our way of giving back to her, allowing her to achieve a significant milestone as vice president of her own corporation. It’s a place she can call her own, and it’s something we all share,” she says.
In the early days of the café in 2021, businesses were cautiously reopening, and people remained hesitant to venture out, even for a simple cup of coffee.
For the Crisostomo family, coffee isn’t just a beverage; it’s a familial affair. The coffee shop isn’t just a shared business venture but a passion project where they all share their love for coffee, consuming whatever is left unsold at the end of each day.
Prior to launching the cafe, Michelle conducted a survey of the neighborhood’s cafes, sampling their menus to understand how their cafe could fit in and compete.
By the time the construction was complete, in about two to three months, the neighborhood saw a substantial increase, with 22 coffee shops springing up from just six when they first scouted the area.
Despite the cafe being their side hustle, as all except Mommy Edna have day jobs, they all contribute to its management. The cafe, with a cozy seating capacity for six, employs a lean team consisting of a store manager and three baristas who rotate their shifts.
Two of the sisters are doing freelance work, and the other two are gainfully employed in a corporate set-up. Michelle is part of global streaming giant Netflix as a customer experience manager. When offered the job during pandemic, she found it tempting and decided to switch jobs from Facebook. She has a degree in Mass Communications from the University of the Philippines.
One of her sisters has worked as a pastry chef in Dubai and decided to come home after seven years just before the pandemic struck. Pau is freelancing as a business development expert, helping establish businesses, particularly coffee shops, from the ground up.
Overflow Cafe was her second project among four cafe brands she has helped create and build.
In managing the cafe, each of them pitches in. Whoever has the most time during the day looks after the business. The cafe, which can comfortably sit six people, employs a very lean crew. A store manager and three baristas take turns during the week.
Haven for students
Overflow Cafe serves as a safe haven for students seeking part-time work and as a training ground for Michelle’s deaf and mute niece, Bea, who demonstrates that people with disabilities can thrive in the food and beverage (F&B) industry.
As a born-again Christian, Michelle underscores the importance of creating a welcoming space for PWDs, elderly individuals, and children, as it aligns with her faith.
To stay competitive, Overflow Cafe continually enhances its menu, taking customer suggestions to heart. The cafe now offers non-coffee drinks for kids, fruit teas, ice cream, ice cream floats, sandwiches and toasts. Some of the signature beverages are inspired by the owners’ children, who devise creative ways to enjoy non-coffee drinks.
For those who prefer home-brewed coffee, the cafe offers drip coffee in pouches, as well as custom orders for drip coffee as personalized tokens for events. Lately, the cafe also started catering to small off-site events.
To engage more customers, Overflow Cafe introduced “pending coffee,” a concept where pre-purchased and prepaid coffee credits are made available for other patrons to enjoy.
“This is like suspended coffee, where we offer coffee that are pre-bought and pre-paid by regular visitors for other clients to enjoy. If we have pending coffee credits, we offer them to students who do their homework in our shop or if there are bible study groups. And since we are a Christian establishment, some of our members buy pending coffee credits for members who will drop by,” Michelle says.
“We don’t proactively talk about this. We don’t want to make us look like we’re doing this for the clout or to be noticed. We feel that as Christians we need to give back and this is a part of that,” she says.
The excess pending coffee credits are offered to students who study or hold Bible study groups. However, Michelle says they don’t actively promote this, as they believe in giving back quietly, driven by their Christian values.
Michelle strongly believes that small businesses play a vital role in shaping the entrepreneurial mindset of young individuals. She notes the importance of instilling the values of entrepreneurship in children from an early age, teaching them to make smart decisions while working for income.
“I saw the difference of having an entrepreneurial mindset. While it is important to have a steady income, it is also important to train your kids as early as possible. While working for money, they also make smart decisions,” Michelle says.
As an informed parent, she says parents her like has the opportunity to prepare their children for life.
“We did not have much growing up, but we would like our kids to experience how it is to work without pressure. Training them for life starts in this small-seater coffee shop,” she says.
Overflow Cafe seeks to convey a message to its customers, encapsulated in Psalms 23:5, “You prepare a table before me in the presence of my enemies; you anoint my head with oil; my cup overflows.”
“This is our core verse. Very apt. This exemplifies how we are all blessed and how can be a blessing to others. Each day we are striving to offer customer service the Christian way,” says Michelle.
