After visiting 2 coffee estates in a row, you think I would have become an all knowing goddess of the coffee creation process. However, we have only touched the iceberg of the complicated process of coffee creation from bean to market.
Cafe Brit today exposed us to the world of coffee roasting and more importantly coffee marketing.
The primest example of Cafe Brits best marketing is their coffee plant tour we experience.
The Cafe Brit experience was curated beyond belief, from a to the tee scripted tour guide, custom videos, and even thoughtfully placed coffee plants surrounded around the estate.
I would call this a much different experience from our tour yesterday with Doka estate. Doka offered a very initiate candid look into their process, even discussing the immigration of Nicaraguan workers (despite the country’s political discourse over the workers coming in). They talked about their impact of the work on both the environment and the community
Cafe Brit, however, offered what I can only describe as a disney-like experience. Providing an entertainment focused rather than an informative experience. While this isn’t necessarily a flaw with the company itself , it can explain quite frankly why tikos don’t invest much of their money in Cafe Brit.
The product of the coffee itself isn’t what necessarily makes Cafe Brit an appealing company. It is the ambiance, the feeling, the excitement that they offer you. The create a certain experience that makes tourists feel as if they are getting a taste of Costa Rica (in a much shiny fairytale manner). Tikos see no appeal to this, they live in Costa Rica, already know the many things it has to offer them.
Furthermore, Cafe Brit has created a duality in their brand for themselves. While trying to market themselves as a high-end coffee to Tikos, they have established themselves as a tourist brand in the airports. That is often an association with cheap, flimsy, and non authentic.
From a planning perspective, Cafe Brit has much successes. Most notably, their expansion in countries beyond Costa Rica. After discussing with their head of marketing, the extensive research and development going into their expansion has proven great success. The idea of adjusting packaging and even the lighting design in countries proves that they excel in their ability for notice to detail and planning in advance.
Even in the pandemic, while planning proved difficult they were able to adjust their plans for each individual product in order to more fit the needs of their consumers.