Coffee Entrepreneurs: D.D. Peña and Karen Recinto

D.D. Peña and Karen Recinto are owners of Milpitas' newest coffee shop,  at Seasons MarketPlace at Landess, which is close to celebrating its one-year anniversary. 

The two friends met in 1989 as students at Ateneo de Manila Law School. In the Philippines, they worked office jobs–Peña as litigation lawyer and Recinto as a CPA, auditor and tax lawyer. 

After moving to the U.S., they traded in their briefcases, donned aprons, and opened up the business with the financial support of two friends from the Philippines. 

Their menu includes their own signature coffee drinks as well as the traditional Filipino hot dish silog, cured meat served with garlic fried rice and fried eggs. 

Milpitas Patch: How did the idea to open a coffee shop come about?

Karen Recinto: I was a practicing corporate lawyer in Manila and an auditor there. Then I studied for my MBA and LLM (Master of Laws) in Singapore. My family moved to the United States in 2002, and I became a stay-at-home mom. But as the kids got older I wanted to get back to work. D.D. had also moved to the Bay Area, and that’s when we started toying with the idea of opening a business. It took two years of planning, and last May we finally opened a coffeeshop. I went from Ally McBeal to Martha Stewart!

D.D. Peña: Cooking was a lifelong hobby. I’d cook for friends, or they would request me to cook for them. In Manila I was a lawyer and co-owned a bar.  Then I had a coffee franchise. So by the time I moved here I already had the restaurant experience. When Karen and I got together, she suggested we put my culinary skills and experience to use.

D.D.’s specialty is adobo, a Filipino dish of marinated meat in garlic and vinegar, with D.D.’s “secret ingredients.” Popular among his family and friends, Adobo Salvador is now a favorite at The Coffee Adventure Co. 

Patch: How is The Coffee Adventure Co. different from coffee chains such as Peet’s or Starbucks?
 

Peña and Recinto: We’re a café/bistro. Unlike Starbucks, we serve meals and desserts along with the coffee. We don’t have croissants and muffins on the shelf, but brownies and empanada. Our coffee is fair-trade, grown in the Philippines.

Cakes and pastries are baked specifically for the shop. Half The Coffee Adventure’s menu boasts an array of hot and cold entrees including salads and pasta, and the silog, which D.D. says is a top-seller.

Patch: So what skills have you brought to the business from your past professions?

Peña and Recinto: Our negotiating skills (with contractors, suppliers, etc.) Growing up in the Philippines, we had to adapt to U.S. laws – city, county, state, federal – the basics of which are very similar to back home. But as lawyers we do read, scrutinize and understand the fine print.   

The two established their business roles early on. D.D. does the cooking, correspondence and other PR – “the face of the store,” according to Karen, while she handles purchasing and accounting.

Patch: In what way has your friendship affected your business relationship?

Peña and Recinto: It hasn’t, really. We’ve known each other 22 years, so we know how each other thinks, what the other one likes or dislikes. At this point in our friendship we have a degree of selflessness. For one thing, we’re older (both are in their 40s). When it comes to business, we remind each other that we are first and foremost friends. 

Patch: What’s your next “coffee adventure”? 

Peña and Recinto: We’re currently pushing our catering services more aggressively to corporate offices in Milpitas and Silicon Valley. It’s a lot of work, but we’re not in a hurry. Eventually we will branch out. 

The Coffee Adventure Co. is at 1535 Landess Avenue in Milpitas. Follow them on Facebook or at www.coffeeadventureco.com.