Today we got to visit two coffee companies, Doka Coffee and Cafe Britte. Doka Coffee is a major coffee supply company in Costa Rica that produces and sells beans to American chains like Starbucks, Dunkin Donuts and McDonald’s. On the other hand, Cafe Britte is a major manufacturer and distributor of gourmet coffee that sells primarily to tourists. Both visits were incredible and each presentation taught us different aspects to the coffee supply chain.
At Doka Coffee, we learned from general manager Norman about all of the logistics and important guidelines that must be followed when exporting coffee, and afterwards we were able to take a tour of the plantation that showed us all of the steps of production from coffee plant to coffee bean. During Norman’s presentation, he showed us all of the paperwork that must go into exportations: shipping instruction which gives a product description and instructions for distribution, logging page which is a platform that companies use to ship their coffee, a purchase order created by buyers that illustrates their requests, boarding instruction which shows the quantity of coffee that will be shipped, inspector application that inspects the coffee beans before distribution, a technical note from the government that regulates all of the country’s exports, and customs that gives the final approval or disapproval of exportation after all of the above steps have been taken. Though this long list of logistical paperwork may be tedious, I learned today that it is necessary that these steps are taken to ensure the quality of the beans, so that manufacturers are satisfied with their purchases. Doka does an excellent job of maintaining relationships with its customers because it monitors the shipping of its beans all the way to the company. Each container of coffee that is sent out has a tracker on it, so Doka knows exactly where the beans are and if they are in good condition. On the tour of Doka coffee, we also learned how the quality beans are carefully picked from the coffee cherries and how the size, weight and density of each bean are very important determinants of whether or not the coffee beans will be good for roasting. Overall, this company visit gave us insight into how much effort and care is put into each coffee bean which is what truly contribute’s to Doka’s incredible success.
After visiting Doka coffee, we took a bus over to Cafe Britte which was a totally different yet equally interesting experience as our previous visit. At Cafe Britte, we got to hear from retail manager Adriana Echandi who specialized in the MORPHO company branch of travel retail and innovations. At Cafe Britte we learned a lot about how the company is continuously growing through their excellent drive for innovations and their emphasis of core values and positivity. Some of their expansions and innovations include selling beans that give proceeds to various animal conservations, marketing to tourists by selling beans in hotels and airports, and opening up their site to tourists to learn about the coffee production process and offering various samples of coffees and chocolates. In addition, Cafe Britte’s committed customer service contributes tremendously to their growth and success as a company. In their retail stores, they give out many free samples of coffee which engages customers and truly allows tourists to learn about who they are as a company and have an interactive experience with employees. They also are always asking for customer feedback and satisfaction to see how they can innovate and improve their company as a whole. Adriana explained to us that their customer satisfaction is very high due to their dedicated employees and passion for selling and marketing coffee. Their drive for achieving excellence in their company is inspirational and their passion is seen in so many aspects of the company!
Overall, I was so impressed by both companies today and I enjoyed learning about real life businesses and the supply chain, outside of my classroom experience at Pitt. I felt as though I learned so much I didn’t know before about the coffee industry that I can bring back to my coffee shop and become an overall better barista!
