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In this following interview you may learn a little more about doing business
in Mexico; Baja California and Cabo San Lucas to be more specific. Here Los Cabos Insider has a talk with Patrick Jeffas of the Cabo Coffee Company, to learn
a little more about the man and the challenges of bringing you a “Perfect
cup of Coffee” in Cabo San Lucas and soon, worldwide via the internet.
What did you do before The Cabo Coffee Company?
I owned a printing business for 23 years in New Jersey; left never wanting
to own a business again.
When did you arrive in Cabo San Lucas?
4 Years ago
Why Cabo?
I came on vacation and fell in love with it. It is Arizona by the sea. I
used to vacation in Arizona a lot but after I found Cabo I knew it was for
me
Why Coffee?
Well I wasn’t planning on getting into any business down here. My wife was
selling real estate and I was selling timeshares and I met these other two
gentlemen that had already begun planning to do this and they were looking
for investment.
My wife was very excited about the idea of a coffee business. I think I got
into it more for her excitement, than my actually wanting to be back in
business.
Click here for
The Cabo Coffee Company
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 The sooner you quit comparing with another place and accept the differences
the easier it will be for you. Just beware that on the operational side you
are not going to run a U.S. style business down here. There is plenty of
opportunity down here and if you do business in a business like manner you
are bound to make money.
What obstacles did you have to overcome in order to
create the Cabo Coffee Company?
Well even though Mexico grows some of the finest coffee in the world it is
not available here. The best quality Arabica (high altitude) beans are
exported for a higher profit, leaving only the lower grade robusto beans to
be available for purchase in Mexico. We therefore decided to see what we
could do to obtain the best beans.
 The answer was to purchase directly from a certified organic grower in the
Pluma Hidalgo region which produces the finest in Mexico. By eliminating the
middle man and purchasing directly we were able to get the best grade. It
costs more this way because by dealing in "fair trade" we pay the grower
more than he could expect to receive from a large brokerage and we have to
personally arrange shipment from Oaxaca to Cabo, through Mexico City,
Mazatlan and La Paz.
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Did you know what you were getting into?
No, I really do not like partnerships but we felt it could work because of
the different talents and focuses we could make a pretty good team. Well
before we really got started one of them dropped out and then just after a
few months, the other partner left for personal reasons. Basically I’m now
paying him off and own and run the whole business. I was right Partnerships
are difficult even though I have known some to work very well
Is there anything you have learned about doing business in Mexico or Baja
California specifically that you would pass on to someone interested in
doing business in Baja?
The biggest thing down here is that the systems for business like
accounting, facturas, labor and what not are different. Not always bad but
different. In other words keep an open mind and be ready to do things
differently than where you came from. Efficiency is probably the hardest to
achieve here. (see poco a poco)
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It's worth it though because while we assure ourselves of receiving the
highest quality coffee we are also providing higher profits to the grower
who can then reinvest in his business in a tough economic coffee market. Our
success is shown in how many people purchase our coffee in bulk to take home
after their vacation.
What do you feel you do different in your Internet Café?
Well we try hard to create a nice atmosphere where people may come to use
the computers, meet with friends, and have a perfect cup of coffee with a
pastry. One of the biggest things I think we did right was to bring in some
quality furniture and play nice music for listening like Jazz. The proof
that we are doing it right came from a customer’s recent comment: “we live
in Seattle and we really feel like we are back home when we are here”.
What future plans do you have for Cabo Coffee?
We are presently looking for more locations and by creating our new website
we will be able to sell to anyone in the world. We actually have a lot of
people that take our coffee home with them at the end of their vacation and
many have asked if they could buy it online. We are also focusing on
increasing our wholesale business to gift shops, stores, restaurants and
hotels.
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