One specific detail that stuck out to me was at Sibo Cafe when the tour guide spoke about how his company asked farmers to plant cacao seeds in their farms because it was good for the environment. He touched upon the idea that people’s first worry is themselves and this was shown when they were not willing to plant these seeds because they did not receive any positive impact on their business which led to a loss in total profit. Cacao is very important to keeping a sustainable environment which is a fundamental idea for the triple bottom line to be successful. They help increase biodiversity because they eliminate single crop plantations. They grow underneath trees and other crops which creates another layer to the environment which attracts birds and other animals.
A business decision that they made was to offer the farmers three times the amount of money they would normally spend in order to ensure that cacao would be planted. This shows how important cacao is in order to maintain a sustainable environment because they are willing to lose economic profit. Even though they are losing profit, one strategic advantage they have is that they are receiving the best product which sets them above the large companies who are buying in bulk. This is a textbook example of the Costa Rican belief to prioritize quality over quantity.
The triple bottom line has three key principles, the first two I touched upon with focusing on the environment and how they profit with their quality. The third fundamental idea focuses on fair labor practices which was one of the main reasons why our tour guide got into the chocolate business. He studied history and one of the things he came across was how child labor was being used. He wanted to make sure that the chocolate industry he was a part of reflected ethical practices, so focusing on fair labor was just as important to him as protecting the environment and producing high‑quality cacao. His passion for the chocolate industry was also shown when he said that he wanted his competitors to be successful because that meant that the quality of chocolate was high.