In listening to a presentation from a Café Britt employee and speaking with my host family, I came to the conclusion that Café Britt’s recent strong sales can be attributed to the strength of their brand name. They essentially sell the name on the bag more than they do the actual product. The Costa Rican coffee brand “1820” offers nearly the same taste, a larger amount of coffee per bag, and costs only one fourth of the price of a bag of a Café Britt’s blend. From what I’ve gathered, cost is the main reason Ticos prefer other brands over Café Britt, and Britt has recognized this so it has wisely moved to airports and areas to target tourists with little awareness of Costa Rican coffee. That being said, I was foolish enough not to ask my host mom about which Costa Rican coffee to purchase, and I bought over $40 worth of Café Britt coffee today.

That being said, Café Britt does a great job at its role as the middle man in the supply chain. Where Doka grows all of its crop on site and decides to roast or ship it from there, Café Britt grows very little of the product it roasts and sells to customers. What makes Café Britt so successful is how well it has gone about promoting brand image through product variety and targeting the right consumer market: tourists. Café Britt offers many different products which makes it attractive to a variety of consumers. While I approve of the financial success and marketing work done by Café Britt, as a customer I feel mislead by its sales tactics. That being said, I would not do anything differently were I employed by Café Britt because of how successful it’s methods have proven.