The End is Near :(...5/19/16 - 5/20/16

Pura Vida!!

This blog post comes as a bittersweet reminder that the end of this trip is very close. Today is our technical last day here, and then Saturday we'll be at the airport making our way back to our final destinations. So, in honor, this blog post tackles the very root cause for our study abroad experience in Costa Rica: the Coffee Market. 

Dried Green Coffee Beans

*Flash back* It's April and it's our last pre-departure meeting before coming to Costa Rica, everyone is pretty lowkey about their excitement but excitement is definitely there. We learned that we would be covering six bases of the coffee market in Costa Rica: Buying, Selling, Managing, Logistics, and Sustainabilty. In order to be thorough, the class was split into six groups and assigned these topics to focus in on. The Roast of Team 5 a.k.a. Team 5 a.k.a. definitely the coolest group was assigned Logisitics. 

*Flash forward* So it's been two weeks of studying the role Logistics plays in the coffee market here in Costa Rica, and I've not only gained a lot of insight into the coffee business, but I've also gained a whole new level of respect for both the people behind a cup of coffee and the coffee itself. 

If a Costa Rican company, say Cafe Britt wanted to sell their product to meet growing demand in the Pittsburgh area, five challenges that they would need to be prepared to tackle as it relates to Logistics include:

1.  Transportation of goods from Costa Rica to Pittsburgh to ensure that it is still kept fresh. Are intermediary companies used?
2.  The organization of all information, from imports to exports, to transportation routes. Are computer systems used and are they secure?
3.  Coming up with protocols in the case that there was ever an issue with the flow of information, goods, or money
4.  The amount of goods to be transferred and the technique it is transferred with. Is it stored in a warehouse to reduce prices?
5. Choosing a location in Pittsburgh that is profitable. 

Now, I'm clearly no coffee connoisseur or professional, but I have gained a great deal of knowledge to be able to advise Cafe Britt on how they should proceed in dealing with these challenges.

1. They must have transportation lined up for everything. Where are the beans coming from and where are they going after they have been roasted? When negotiating prices from coffee farmers it might also be a good idea to discuss the process in which the beans would be transferred to the company's facilities and who would be taking care of that transportation.Unless Cafe Britt has the resources to create an international transportation company of their own, then it is highly advised that they hire an intermediary. When Doka does exports to the US, they use air freights to get their goods over the ocean and from there they use local shipping.
2. It's very important to have a system set up to keep your company organized, whether it is written or electronic. If it is electronic and secure, then that's even better. Computer systems aren't only necessary to keep track of company information, but they can keep track of exports, imports, clients, customers. Having a store in an international location calls for some extra communication, and an electronic system would make this communication 10 times easier. I would even suggest setting up video calls with your international locations every once in a while to make sure everyone is on the same branch.
3. Issues can occur, especially in a location that is a good distance away from Costa Rica. It doesn't necessarily mean the company is in shambles, but it is important to deal with these issues once they occur so that the company does not hurt its' image. Come up with a protocol for each individual issue that you might encounter. So protocols for how to operate a store in both normal and abnormal situations, how to deal with an unhappy company, taking the steps necessary to amend a security breach are all important issues that must be considered. I think it's also important to understand specifically how something should be done and run. At the end of the day should the manager be making the important calls when it comes to the shop or someone higher up?
4. This is another important thing to consider when having a shop abroad. Shipping internationally can be expensive, so it's important to look at the most cost effective way to ship. Make sure you are only shipping what you need to ship. As you open up a store in Pittsburgh, PA have a month of which you analyze what products people are buying most frequently and from there you should be better able to figure out what you don't need to ship as much of. Another thing to look into is how frequently you would be shipping your items over to Pittsburgh. Doka has a practice where they ship a variety of their products to a warehouse in Miami because it can be expensive to ship on a by order basis. So whenever someone in the US does order something, they can just take it from that warehouse in Miami.
5. From talks with Cafe Britt, they made it clear that they usually place their Britt Shops in "touristy" locations because those are customers of whom their market is targeted towards. They look for emerging markets that they can share their chocolate and coffee in. Based on this ideal I wouldn't necessarily choose Pittsburgh as a location for a Britt Shop, because not many people are necessarily visiting Pittsburgh on "vacation". However, if for some reason Pittsburgh was chosen as a location to be a Britt Shop, a good bet would be to place the Britt Shop in the Pittsburgh International Airport. However, if Cafe Britt was looking to expand its hold outside of tourism and into targeting a newer market then I could see several neighborhoods being a potentially good fit, such as Shadyside and Squirrel Hill. If staying at the Pittsburgh International Airport, it's also important to make sure that the souvenirs are tailored towards what Pittsburgh represents.

This is it! Costa Rica has been so amazing, and I have learned a great deal about the role Logistics plays in the Coffee Business. A truly amazing opportunity, keep an eye out for some highlights!

Adios/Ciao!!

-Fatimah