Golden Haven Launches Own Pet Crematorium

They've always been known for having posh themed memorial parks across the country, and this time, they're giving your special furry member of the family a proper goodbye with their Golden Haven Pet Crematorium. It's located at their premier project in Las Pinas City. This is quite monumental in terms of services provided for the families this can benefit, especially for those who look at their pets differently at this day and age.

For those who would want to take a look at it, it stands at the front of Golden Haven Memorial Park. This was launched last October 21st, and was introduced via a full on motorcade in various streets off Las Pinas City. Using their fleet of vehicles, onlookers were all excited as the stretch of cars drove by. It was colorful and exciting, a perfect opportunity for them to also know about the new service created for their two or four legged friends.

The event was also witnessed by the Golden Haven President Ms. Emy Lustado, and Las Pinas Divisiion Head Ms. Iris Guazon. This is part of their plans to make sure there's a place to say goodbye to their cuddly loved ones, where the lay men and women would have a place to solemnly officiate their blessings when the time comes. Their social channels also feature the facility and has gotten fur parents excited seeing such a place dedicated for the furry ones as part of their after life services. This is compassion in action, so head on to their social channels by searching Golden Haven on FB, Twitter, TikTok etc. or their website  goldenhaven.com.ph because everything is there.

Go pay them a visit if you feel like your pets deserve the best goodbye.

Still Making Milestones: The FIGARO Coffee Group

The pandemic must have been hard for businesses and it did stay true with the Figaro Cofee Group. A few months ago, we were in the midst of their executives to see where their group is heading especially this 2024. The event was graced by Mr. Justin Liu the group's Chairman, Ms. Divine Cabuloy their CEO/President, Mr. Mike Barret their COO/EVP and Mr. Petronio Español III the Figaro Group's CFO.

Still Bullishly Expanding

During the pandemic, they have had really hard times as restaurants were either forced to close or not allowed to have dine in customers sans protocols implemented by the government. Though they have coffee shops, Chinese and other brands, their Angel's Pizza was a hit. It was so much of a hit that they had to absorb employees from different corporations who went in the verge of closing down and get them to work in their new branches. The pizza delivery industry sector went huge, and their flavor and food innovations proved positively good during those years. Today, the FIGARO Coffee Group owns 60 Figaro Coffee stores, 116 Angel's Pizza outlets, over 10 Tien Ma restaurants, and 6 Cafe Portofino branches nationwide. That's over 192 all in all, and they are strategically expanding outside the metro in places like Laguna, Pampanga, Rizal, Cebu, Pangasinan, Leyte, Bohol and Davao. They are thinking of more regions next year, and this expansion comes with careful planning and coordination so no quality would be sacrificed in any of their stores.

Financially Strong, Making Milestones

Their Chairman Justin Liu personally explained their recent milestones in terms of finances in the Figaro Group. Their 75% increase in revenues alone had our jaw dropped and they attribute it to the aggressive expansion projects they made outside Metro Manila. Aside from that, a 6% increase in existing stores has helped achieve great sales figures as compared to 2022, that's over Php 2.44 Billion albeit a decline in gross margins back in June which they attribute to inflation and expensive raw materials. Net income came at a whopping Php 462.6 Million because of their wise mitigation in costs and increase in volume (since they did expand stores), undoubtedly a really good reason to celebrate.


They also added the new Creamy Spinach Sushi Bake to the menu a few months ago. With it, is the highly successful Creamy Spinach Dip Pizza. They also launched the "Sama Sama Sa Angel's Pizza" jingle which I'm sure will add to the really good marketing ploys they launched. They also had a few more viands in their other brands plus Oat based drinks which will make the nutty success in their coffee brands.

This is just the start, and I felt there will be more stores for Angel's Pizza in the Visayas and Mindanao region in the coming months. Figaro really weathered through a storm, survived it, and is flourishing! 

Congratulations FIGARO Group!

Xiaomi Holds Xiaomi Pop Run 2023 at Bridgetowne in QC

It was certainly a great morning to have a few of my blog friends and different health enthusiasts join the XIAOMI POP RUN 2023 which was held last October 28th at the Bridgetown grounds in Quezon City. I'm quite familiar to the place because when I had a blue collar job my previous corp opened an office nearby. There were a lot of people from nearby corps who joined in plus some of Xiomi's very own employees, friends and family who participated in this event.

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A post shared by John Bueno (@kumagcow)

Around 5am, warm ups were done first by instructors to make sure we had blood rushing through our veins before the actual 3K and 10K runs. This is the first Xiaomi Pop Run event being held in the country and it has been a tradition in other parts of the world, it was a glad addition to the already big runs happening elsewhere (they were being done simultaneously in several cities around the world and Manila just got it). This all started in China via the Orange Run in 2018 which was well attended by Xiaomi fans.

When the race started, the 10K Run was done first. I thought it was going to be relatively easy, but no, the run had some several pros in them. There were also a lot of participants that had their Xiaomi Bands with them, which was also a good thing as they were launching the latest one the Xiaomi Band 8.

I wore one too, the White version while there were other runners that had the Black. The night before, I wore it to monitor my sleep (and saw I only had an hour in it lol #badboy). The Xiaomi Band 8 had other features to monitor the distance they ran, the time, heart rate, even blood oxygen levels (which I did during the pandemic often). There's also a way to monitor the route because it had GPS capabilities, so when the race started, they switched it to that as well. What I liked most about the Xiaomi Band 8 is the really clear 1.62 inch AMOLED display and the long lasting batteries it had (which promised 16 days, and I have yet to charge it since I've worn it that day). I also had the opportunity to take photos with several Sparkle teens and Sparkle artists as well who joined the 3K Xiaomi Pop Run, particularly Will Ashley,  Keisha Serna, James Graham, Abdul Raman, Ella Cristofani, Jade Tecson, Aidan Veneracion, Tanya Ramos, Lianne Valentin, and Raheel Bhyria. They were a fun bunch!

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Winners were given a brand new Xiaomi 13T smartphone a Xiaomi Smart Band 8 depending on the distance and time. The other sponsors like Redbull, Viu, Salonpas and Fitbar made sure lucky participants were given prizes through the on the spot raffles before the event ended. They also thanked their partners at Bridgetowne Destination Estate and Robinsons for doing the same. They also promised more things to come in the next Xiaomi Pop Run, yes there will be one next year! If you want to know more, make sure to follow Xiaomi Philippines social channels and their official website. See you then!

MYMP Releases "Di Mo Lang Alam" Under PolyEast Records

I've been an MYMP fan for a couple of years now. I'm not afraid to admit, I'm obsessed with the acoustic and heartbreaking songs they dished out in past albums, and hearing they're releasing a new single made my MYMP heat quite happy. For starters, they've got sisters Juliet Bahala and Ethyl Bahala singing for the band. This means it's a whole new plethora of music that they're going to do as it won't sound the same if they only had one vocalist. They're already awesome individually and since they're singing together, it's something different which Chin Alcantara welcomes. He says much of their music revolves around the singer, and the recent single they released called "Di Mo Lang Alam" had a more pop hopeful love song vibe. We met them at the SUPERSAM branch here in Scout Tobias in Quezon City.

Juliet is a very spirited songwriter, and she's got more songs in the pipeline which they plan to release in the near future, to hopefully complete an album. They have been working hard after renewing ties with PolyEast Records. The new music will certainly earn them another generation of fans, while hopefully not alienating those who love the previous songs they released. This is what Chin believes is his responsibility as a Producer, and I think he's done a remarkable work with this.

Here's our interview with the band last night, please enjoy!

"Di Mo Lang Alam" was something that has spurred from imagination, funny that it came from a day she forced herself to write. Juliet asserts that much of the upcoming songs they plan to release would be something relatable, with efforts to concentrate on what people go through at a certain stage in their lives. It's also about vulnerability, to allow yourself to muster up the courage to tell the one you love how you feel and the sacrifices you did for them. The band also has plans to make songs in English to cater to those who are outside the country and prefer it in that language. They also don't have concert goals yet, but much of the success they've achieved in the past few years have always been that way, and hopefully, the same happens in the next couple of months.  

They do have plans to make a music video for the new single, but for the meantime, you can go to the MYMP Facebook page to know more about where they are regularly performing. The single is now out on Spotify, Deezer, YouTube Music, Apple Music and other streaming platforms where available. You can also head on to the official PolyEast Records social channels to see where MYMP's music is going, because as far as what I've seen last night during their gig, it's going to be awesome!

@kumagcow MYMP Vocalists Juliet and Ethyl Bahala Performs Always Forever at Supersam Scout Tobias #TikTokHalloween #halloween2023 #music #mymp #tiktoktainment ♬ original sound - John Bueno

 Here's a little more chat about the time we talked about the health issues that Juliet went through and have been able to overcome,

 

I'd like to take this bit to thank the men and women from PolyEast Records and the MYMP management who hooked us up so we could talk to them. Again, thank you!

(Their performance are now all posted on my TikTok account, follow @kumagcow there too please!)