Today we got to visit Sibö Chocolate, Riverside Gastropub, and learn more about Costa Rica’s medical device industry, and I thought all three connected really well to the idea of businesses focusing on more than just profit. Sibö stood out to me the most because the whole experience felt really special and authentic (I’m also a dark chocolate fanatic so that helps). It was super interesting learning about the history of chocolate, especially how they connected modern Costa Rican chocolate back to hundreds of years of history and culture. I also thought it was cool that the founders originally had no background in chocolate making and are actually historians who spent years learning the craft because they believed Costa Rica should keep more of the value from its own cacao instead of exporting raw beans and having other countries make the finished products.

One thing that really stuck with me was how much the owner cared about creating a process that benefits everyone involved. He specifically talked about how he really cares about making it a win for the producer, exporter, customer, and everyone else involved in the process instead of just maximizing profit for one group. I also liked how they try to utilize almost every part of the cacao process and reduce waste whenever possible, like using cacao husks to help make paper packaging. I thought it was really cool that he said that he actually prefers that the competitors have a better quality product so that the standard is set higher as a whole. Those choices probably are not the easiest or most profitable, but I think that is what the triple bottom line really means, balancing profit with people and the environment instead of only focusing on efficiency. I especially loved that they have a 99 percent chocolate (the 1 percent is only because they can’t “guarantee” no sugar gets into it) as I am a dark chocolate lover, and it tasted way less bitter than the other 100 percent chocolates I’ve tried because of how high quality the cacao and production process are. Another reason the owner said he dislikes relying heavily on sugar is because of the intensive labor practices often tied to the sugar industry, which added another layer to how he thinks about sustainability and ethical business practices.

Riverside and the medical device industry showed similar ideas in very different ways. Riverside focused heavily on sustainability, local ingredients (it was super cool to see how they produced a lot of the delicious food we ended up eating), and composting. The medical device industry showed how Costa Rica has been able to grow economically by investing in education and skilled labor instead of relying on cheap labor. Overall, today made me realize that sustainable business can look very different depending on the industry, but the companies that stood out most were the ones willing to make harder or less efficient decisions in order to support their long term mission and values.