Down to business with Down to Earth.(Interview)

Tea & Coffee Trade Journal, February, 2005

Supply chain management problems constantly plague coffee manufacturers, whether they're multibillion-dollar giants or small family-owned enterprises. For example, Down to Earth, a gourmet coffee and gifts producer based in Costa Rica, found that as its orders expanded, so did its distribution and fulfillment challenges.

Founder Matias Zeledon has worked as a creative director at the advertising agencies Foote Cone & Belding, BBDO, and DDB Needham. He started up his own direct marketing company in 1994 and served as a consultant to the tourist industry in Central America. In 2001 he founded Down to Earth, which, in addition to a mail order and online business, operates four stores and a coffee tour in Costa Rica and has begun to export coffee to retailers on...