DI BOSCo

Coffee with values

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dibosco.co

FAQ

What is DIBOSCo?

DIBOSCo is an international private company based on the cooperation of Past Pupils of Don Bosco with the aim of creating the trademark DIBSOCo coffee and DIBOSCo coffee shops.

 

Is DIBOSCo based only in Slovak Republic?

There are several cooperations and partners across Europe. In Ireland, UK, Malta, Czech Republic, Poland, Italy, Spain, Hungary, Czech Republic. In different countries, we have cooperation at different levels, developing it and adjusting for individual countries. We are also developing cooperations in the USA and Asia.

 

How would you describe the relationship with the producers? Do you have personal contact with them?

We have personal contact with all our direct trade partners/suppliers. It is confirmed via Salesian Family, mostly via our contacts from the national federation of Past Pupils or with Salesians themselves. From the very beginning we started with “direct trade” coffee and free trade coffee, both of high quality and social values in our offer. The idea is to transform our whole production world widely exclusively in coffees we have directly from farmers we know. We are working daily to fulfil this idea and recently we have more “direct trade” coffees than free trade. We are regularly travelling and visiting our partners/suppliers. We already visited and started nice cooperations in Salvador, Colombia, Kenya, Thailand and Costa Rica. We are also looking closely into Uganda and Guatemala. Since we work with the primary producers only, there is no other option as only direct cooperation and direct trade.

 

Are all/some of the producers past pupils?

The coffees from direct trade are strictly from Past Pupils or Salesian Family members. We have had some contacts for example for parents of Salesians, or to some Salesian cooperators…. The main point is to obtain the coffee from the production with the Don Bosco background.

 

Do all the producers have small (or bigger) companies, are they a single person or families?

It depends on the situation but in general they are independent small/smaller producers/farmers. Sometimes, it might be a cooperative of farmers, like the farmers in Kenya we have visited, since the independent farmers have no chance to sustain their own businesses. Sometimes it is a well established business with coffee production, for example our partner in Thailand. They employ about up to 30 young Past Pupils in their production, coffee shops, roastery. 

 

Is there a difference in price between buying coffee directly and buying free trade coffee? 

Speaking about the profit, it is pretty simple since for the producers to work with us, it has to make sense also financially. It is not a secret know how that we pay producers the fair market price and some more, if possible for us to do so. This way the producers receive significantly more finances than from the local buyers or stock market sell of the coffee since they and us overrun all the middlemen in the structure.

 

Can you see the impact of higher prices?

We have some experience, for example from Salvador, where the quality of the coffee is rising every year and the production is getting much better and easier because our partners/farmers were able to invest earned money in better technical equipment, for studies of the processes, etc. Because there is a different situation in every country, we experience different improvements. Starting with providing higher prices for the coffee to our partners/farmers, continuing by improvements in the processes to get the coffee from the bean to the cup, and last but not least, making daily workload and documentation for our partners/farmers easier step by step. 

 

What does fair trade mean?

From the very beginning of our DIBOSCo coffee project, we made a decision about approaching the fair trade certification. As stated in our name DIBOSCo – coffee with values, we decided not to require the paid direct trade certification from our farmers, as it costs them quite high payments to gain the certification. Many of them have perfectly graded coffee but are too small to be able to afford paying for the certification. That is why we, as a company, are not requiring it. We choose to travel and meet them in person, see their farms and the conditions there. As we mentioned above, our experience from Salvador, as time flows we are establishing close relationships and improvements in livelihoods because of our mutual cooperation is becoming more and more visible.

 

Who is the contact person with whom to communicate in case of being interested in the project?

The first contact should be done with our franchise department. We are taking care of our partners – established and new one. Please refer to the email address franchise@dibosco.co, also visit our international webpage www.dibosco.co.