A first container, four generations in the making
Arthur Shalagin sold his first coffee in a law school corridor. He had a French press, a grinder and a quality bag of beans, and he undercut the campus cafeteria by a dollar a cup. It was, he cheerfully admits, entirely unofficial.
Two careers later, one in corporate law and one selling software, the coffee passion turned into a business.
Grit & Growth Coffee Consulting brings single farm Guatemalan coffee into the United States. The farm is Finca Marinitas, four generations deep and more than a century old, named for the family’s grandmother, Marinita. Arthur found it the way good things usually happen, through a friend of a friend whose cousin farms there.
When it came time to sign, the family flew to New York for Coffee Fest, because they wanted to do it in person.
What he had not done before was move twenty thousand pounds of green coffee across an ocean.
Four freight forwarders, one reply
What happens before a container moves
Green coffee entering the United States is regulated by the FDA, so the real work starts long before anything reaches a wharf. AXIMA runs a pre-shipment check on every new client and every new product.
For Grit & Growth that meant:
- Confirming the HTS code, duty rates and any special import requirements for green coffee with AXIMA’s US customs team
- Verifying that the supplier was an FDA-registered premises
- Ensuring awareness of the Foreign Supplier Verification Program (FSVP) and compliance is in place
- Arranging an Importer of Record (IOR)
“We facilitated awareness of FSVP, we facilitated Importer of Record, and FDA registration was checked. We have a whole checklist to help clients think through the process,” notes Mark Bramich. Mark is unapologetic about how many questions this stage involves.
“Why do we ask a lot of questions? To help avoid your container getting stuck at the border, incurring a thousand dollars detention a day. That’s why.” Pour a coffee and answer the questions, in other words.
Many baristas involved in the making of this brew
Coffee starts at the farm. It is harvested, sent to a mill to be washed, dried and packed, then given a slot at the port. Usually that sequence is uneventful.
“Not with us,” laughs Arthur Shalagin.
This was a brand new supply chain. The farm, the mill, a specialty coffee agent at origin, AXIMA’s Guatemalan agent, the shipping line, the Importer of Record and a warehouse in New Jersey had never worked together before. Coordination ran across languages, time zones and an importer running his first container. Arthur counted roughly forty email threads.
Twenty foot containers were unavailable, so AXIMA booked a forty foot instead, which landed cheaper than the twenty would have been. Documentation went back and forth with the shipping line.
“Every single obstacle that you could have thrown at them for this container happened. Every possible thing that could go wrong happened.”, said Arthur.
Luckily the AXIMA team had an incredibly diligent and professional local agent on the ground to assist.
“There was complexity in the local handling and the relationships, and that’s what we are good at.”, said Mark.
Parting the Red Sea
There were calls at five am on a Saturday morning Melbourne time, purely to make the time difference work. There was Rohan, who took calls even on his holiday to Bali.
“He should have been sitting with his feet in the sand. Not dealing with this container. Mark and Rohan basically did the logistical equivalent of parting the Red Sea to make this container happen.”, said Arthur.
Coffee, metal and a decent human being
Arthur has a quick gauge for people.
“He’s a fellow hard rock, like metalhead. He loves coffee too, he loves food. If you have those things, unless you really royally mess things up, you’re a good human being. That’s my mental shortcut.”
Mark passes. He also has a plan. Arthur is posting green beans to Melbourne, Mark is finding a roaster, and somebody is going to have to taste the results on camera.
This passion and care factor runs right throughout the business and its partners. Finca Marinitas is run today by Mario, Sindy and Oscar, who took it on from their grandmother. Some of their workers have been with the family for twenty years. The farm supplies water back to the village around it. That is the kind of coffee Arthur wanted to sell, and the reason a container is worth this much trouble.
“You’re able to literally support a specific farm and a specific family, and you know exactly what you’re getting year over year.”, said Arthur.
What Arthur would tell the next first-time importer
“Find your James and your Mark. Find your industry experts and don’t be afraid to ask them for help, because when you’re new to entrepreneurship you wear about fifteen different hats. What can really hurt you when you’re a new business owner is not knowing what you don’t know.”
Mark’s advice is shorter. Talk early.
“For this type of product the pre-shipment compliance can take time. The sooner you have those conversations with us, the better. We’re really good at getting you on the right path from the get-go.”
Which is why AXIMA will take the call long before there is any freight to book, for food, beverages and supplements in particular, where the compliance work at the front end sets the timeline for everything after it.
