It’s Founder Friday! We are traveling to Panama to learn about one of the greatest cafes and roasters, Cafe Unido through a wonderful conversation with its founder, Benito Burmudez.
Inspired by the idea that Panama has some to of the world’s best coffees, the first Café Unido opens its doors in 2014 in the city of Panama with a clear goal: provide a space for Panamanians to learn and appreciate coffee grown by different local producers, their distinct terroirs, regions, micro lots, varietals and processes while at the same time giving back to coffee growing regions. Over the years they evolved from a single shop, to nine stores, seven in Panama City, one in Boquete, and a new store in Washington DC.
Benito had previously opened and run a successful restaurant, Maito, prior to Unido and is also a Panama Barista Championship 2nd place finisher. Since founding the company he has been tirelessly promoting the celebration and deeper understanding of the coffees of Panama to the world.
Today we will be talking all about this journey, what has made it successful, the lessons learned, and much more…
We cover:Â
- How Restaurant experience helped
- Staying motivated through tough times
- Working to win over locals to a new flavor of coffee
- Being flexible and not snobbish about coffee
- Training system and structure
- Delegation and investing in understanding
- Culture and values at scale
- The biggest mistake in growing the business
- Allowing for the brand’s evolution and how to judge success
- Exploring the depth and variety of Panama coffee
- Expansion to the states
Links:
Instagram: @cafeunido
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