It’s wild that we’ll be leaving Costa Rica tomorrow to go back home. It feels like yesterday we just landed with the flight attendants saying “Welcome to Costa Rica.” It has truly been a wonderful, fulfilling experience. Even though it’s coming to an end, I’ll never forget the memories, the wonderful hospitality from my host family and the acceptance that we have received from Costa Ricans. I’ll definitely miss the friendly culture, the adventures, the food, and mostly the beautiful nature of this place.

For my final blog post, I’ll be reflecting on what I’ve learned during the tours and the delivery aspect of the supply chain process in Costa Rica.

1- Farming

Farming and growing crops carefully is the most important step to any food supply chain process. If this fails, nothing else can continue effectively because there will only be bad crops.

Throughout the plantation visits, I learned how much goes into farmers caring for crops, so they can grow properly and be produced with the highest quality. For instance at Doka, they make sure to replace the coffee plants every 25 years to maintain high quality, they add fruit trees to divert insects, and they only pick ripe beans. As for the delivery aspect, they ship their coffee beans unroasted, so the coffee beans maintain their quality throughout transportation. Costa Rica’s goal is to export high quality coffee, so maintaining high quality through every stage is crucial.

2- Processing Mills and Exporters

The next step after farming and harvesting the crops is processing it and exporting it to another company or country. In the case of Doka Estate, the company exports their beans overseas. They put their beans in containers and have trucks drive it to the port. During this process it’s important for the coffee beans to have proper humidity and for them to maintain a good condition. Having the coffee beans unroasted helps it last and when the roasters get the beans they can roast it however they like.

3- Coffee Roasters, Cafes and Retail Stores

Companies like Café Britt are the main coffee roasters and the focus for cafes and retail stores because they have really expanded their company to almost everywhere. They have many gift shops inside travel retail stores which kind of cuts delivery costs and makes it easier.

4- The Customers

Lastly, getting the product to the customers is extremely important as they are the ones that can make or break a company. That’s one of the downsides of relying on tourism. This was heavily seen in Costa Rica during the pandemic when tourism declined and many people weren’t traveling to get products. One way companies like Café Britt and the chocolate companies combat this is selling their products online and shipping them. Café Britt also has their products in travel retail stores and domestic airports, so getting that to consumers isn’t much of a problem when a pandemic isn’t happening.

Conclusion

Overall, I would say that I learned a lot about the supply chain process of companies in Costa Rica through other factors such as planning, sourcing, marketing, making, or designing. To condense everything and only focus on the delivery aspect was personally difficult and didn’t increase my understanding. Delivery wasn’t an aspect that kept me interested. However, I have learned the importance of why it’s important to protect products like coffee or delicate items like pineapples when they are being shipped. It’s also important to limit shipping costs and be able to reach consumers easily. So selling locally, online, or in travel stores that people are traveling in is a good strategy.

Goodbye Costa Rica

Well Costa Rica, it’s been a wonderful time. I’ll definitely consider coming back with a friend in the future if I can. I love you Costa Rica and thank you to Pitt, Professor Teeter, and Stacey for this wonderful opportunity. Pura Vida!!!!