The new year signals a clean slate and a fresh start for many — especially for micro, small, and medium businesses ready to take on the challenges and changing tastes of a post-pandemic, consumer-driven market. Such is the situation now confronting a newly opened, Gapan-based cafe, Taste & Brew, that is being “remotely run,” thanks to fiber-powered internet by Converge.

For proprietor Vheng Roberto, the MSME of today cannot cheap out on technology. She is also a full-time and Manila-based employee, aside from being a business owner. She can only run her businesses in Nueva Ecija through remote surveillance and management.

“Every weekend lang ako andito (sa Nueva Ecija). Nagchecheck lang ako sa staff, kitchen, and bar ko via CCTV. Kaya ang unang una ko pinalagay dito internet para mamonitor ko lahat. Yan talaga nakatulong sa akin kahit malayo ako dito, I can supervise the customer service,” Roberto said.

This is how she can make sure she can “attend to diners” even if she’s in Manila and can make suggestions to her staff.

A robust and fiber-based connection is needed to power her CCTV system, which is installed in her two businesses: her restaurant called Heavenly Taste in Pambuan, Gapan, and Taste & Brew near the town center in San Lorenzo, Gapan.

Both businesses were borne out of her passion to serve her communities, and she’s far from disappointed with how they do. Taste & Brew, which opened in December 2023, is what she fondly calls a “kapemilya” — a cafe that draws whole families together, not just the solitary patron.