After touring the coffee farms today, I will never complain about paying four dollars for a coffee again. The amount of hard work and concentration that goes into the process of producing coffee is bewildering. I will definitely be much more appreciative of the effort put into keeping my caramel macchiato at Starbucks delicious year after year. I loved the tours today because it showed two completely different segments of the coffee supply chain as well as two different business models when it comes to the coffee tours.

Doka fits in the role of the supplier in the coffee supply chain. This means they produce the coffee themselves and export it to different sources to be sold. Doka has the advantage of knowing exactly where their coffee comes from and having substantial control over the growth and process. However, Doka is not a retailer, meaning that they do not have their own stores throughout the world to sell their products. Instead, they export it to other companies who use the coffee to enhance their own brands. I was under the impression that this would lead to a disadvantage for Doka. However, Norman explained that there is not a huge disadvantage due to the fact that their supply chain is usually is pretty large, therefore the product becomes more expensive, and Doka makes more money. Café Brit, on the other hand, plays the role of roaster and retailer in the coffee supply chain. This means that they create stores to sell other’s products as well as roasts other farmer’s beans and sell them with their brand on it. The advantage of this is that they are able to pick the best quality coffee from each of the farms to use in their roasts. The disadvantage is that they do not have complete control over the process.

I was amazed to see all of Café Brit’s platforms and products. Their large variety has clearly succeeded in their company, illustrated by the sales projections Adrianna presented to us. My group’s topic, delivery, is tied into the company most throughout their e-commerce. Café Brit launched their retail website in 1996 with the promise to succeed in the same impressive customer service and quality as in stores. For example, they promise their customers that they will receive their coffee within 7 days of purchase online with peak freshness. A key aspect of this outstanding customer service stems from their customer satisfaction team who handles the website in which customers are able to report complaints or issues with their deliver of coffee using a unique serial code on each individual bag of coffee. I think this is a brilliant idea because it makes the customer feel appreciated and feel that their complaints are recognized.

One thing I noticed quickly about Café Brit is that it is extremely geared towards tourism, specifically American tourism. I noticed this mainly due to their emphasis on English opposed to Spanish. If I was a local, this would frustrate me immensely. It makes it seem like the company does not care about the natives. I was surprised that the movie we watched during the tour was in English with Spanish subtitles instead of vice versa. This made it obvious that English speakers are their main target market.