Café Britt Brews More International Business

Costa Rican specialty coffee company Café Britt announced plans this week to expand operations to include retail stores in Antigua, Chile, Mexico and Peru. Café Britt also intends to open eight more locations in Costa Rica in the next 12 months.

The expansion of the Café Britt coffee company, which was founded in Costa Rica in 1985, will include a store in the V.C. Bird International Airport on the Caribbean island of Antigua, four locations in Chile, as well as one in Urubamba and one in Paracas, Peru. In Cancún, Mexico, Café Britt will build a plant to roast Mexican coffee beans. Mexico presently prohibits the importation of Costa Rican coffee and, if a Café Britt is to open in Mexico, it will serve only coffee produced in Mexico.

The new international locations, as well as the eight Costa Rican stores, required an investment of $5 million.

According to Pablo Vargas, general manager of Café Britt, the company chose to invest in new stores during the economic crisis in order to generate profits when the economy recovers.

“The economic crisis has affected us, but we saw it coming ahead of time and took measures to lower spending, lower inventories and monitor cash flow,” Vargas said. “This has given us good results and put us in position right now to invest, to grow and, in another year, when the economy begins to recover, we will be seeing the fruits of our investments.”

Café Britt currently has over 50 locations in five different countries. Café Britt also sells chocolates, candy and books and souvenirs at its stores.

–Adam Williams