Number of locations 140 Stores Revenue 100 million USD Founded 1985 | Website cafebritt.com Headquarters Mercedes, Costa Rica Type of business Private | |
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Industry Coffee roasting and chocolate manufacturing Area served Costa Rica, Peru, Mexico, Chile, United States, Curaçao, St. Thomas, Antigua & Barbuda, New Caledonia, Colombia, Brasil, Ecuador, Guatemala, Uruguay, Republica Dominicana. Key people Phillippe Aronson (President) Pablo Vargas (CEO) Products Costa Rican, Colombian and Peruvian coffees and chocolates, nuts, candies, gifts and specialty products Profiles | ||
Caf britt commercial
Café Britt is a Costa Rican company that produces gourmet coffee, fine chocolate and specialty gift items. They have 140 gift stores in ten countries (in Latin America, the Caribbean, Australia and the United States) and an online store. They create and sponsor coffee-related tourism and education in Costa Rica.
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The company employs nearly 1,000 people. Many of the 92 coffee-and-gift stores it owns and operates are located in international airports. Its coffee-roasting and chocolate-making operations are based in Costa Rica, Peru and Colombia.
History
North American coffee broker Steve Aronson founded the company in 1985 to market roasted Costa Rican coffees to the domestic market. It was the first gourmet coffee roaster in the country; At the time most of the best coffee was exported to foreign markets, Aronson decided to promote the idea that good quality should also be consumed locally. The name Britt is a tribute to Scandinavian countries which are one the largest consumers of coffee; the name was chosen after Aronson opened a contest to pick a name.
The company expanded its operations with the introduction of chocolates in 2000, as well as opening its first store at Juan Santamaría Airport in 2001. In 2003 it added further stores at various hotels popular with tourists in Costa Rica. In 2005 new stores were opened in Perú, the Caribbean, and Chile. In 2009 the company announced plans to open its own coffee roasting plant in Cancún, México in order to avoid the high import tariffs imposed by México on foreign coffees. After 25 years at the helm, Steve Aronson yielded his position as president to his son, Phillipe in 2009.
Coffee and Tourism
In 1991, Café Britt started to combine coffee with tourism with the introduction of the "Britt Coffee Tour", a play staged in its own coffee plantation, traces coffee’s production cycle. Some 50,000 people take the tour each year. More technically oriented versions of the tour have been developed for visiting coffee experts or serious amateurs.