It has always been Hiro Tsujimoto and Ricardo Masana’s philosophy that “sometimes the right way is not the easiest way.”
But just what that entails is far more difficult than what the two owners of Republica Coffee Roasters in Fort Langley had originally imaged.
For the business partners, and brothers-in-law, the “right way” means trekking through jungles with armed government escorts to find coffee plantations that are socially responsible and environmentally sustainable. It means spending hours in a windowless 700 square-foot Port Kells warehouse, blending and trying new coffee recipes. It means roasting their coffee in small batches fresh to order, and delivering it to their customers within 24 hours, despite the “logistical nightmare” that creates.
“It’s not about making money really quickly. Taking the time to make a superior product, or something that we can all be proud of, takes a lot of work,” Tsujimoto said.
“We take great care in the roasting process. We make sure that we have a coffee that’s there for all palates. There’s just a lot of care in the products we do.”
Last night the pair was recognized for their hard work at the Small Business BC Awards. They won the Best International Trade award, recognizing the fair trade work they do with 54 countries around the world.
All of this started with a single visit to Masana’s brother-in-law’s coffee plantation in La Sierra Madre in the state of Chihapas, Mexico in 2007.
Masana, who worked in the coffee industry at that time, and Tsujimoto, who worked in hospitality, often had conversations over dinner about starting a business together.
Masana had mentioned the idea of coffee, but it wasn’t until the pair visited Mexico that the idea became their inspiration.
Over a span of two years they worked with the farmers and studied their methods of picking the cherries, having them cleaned, dried, sorted, packed into sacks and brought into the roaster.
Initially, Tsujimoto and Masana were only trading the coffee and working on their business part time, but that quickly grew into roasting and developing their own blends in Port Kells. By 2011, they took their product to local farmer’s markets to sell, and soon after opened a retail storefront on Gasoline Alley in Fort Langley.
“Much to the scorn of my family, I decided to go with my dreams,” Tsujimoto said.
“The bank hated me, they cut all of my credit because I didn’t have a secure income coming in. It was fairly stressful. Especially for the family — I have three young ones, too, and a mortgage. It was a bit of a tough ride. My wife was very supportive of the idea, (but) my parents were not. They thought it was crazy — risking everything. They don’t think that way anymore.
“When you’re back against the wall, you find a new level of energy and ambition. Failure is not an option.”
But failure was certainly part of the process. Tsujimoto jokes that it really is “a labour of love,” having made many bad batches of coffee while experimenting with new blends and flavours.
Coffee roasting is an ever changing process, as much like wine, coffee beans change in flavour from year to year, even if they are from the same farm. Weather and environmental factors impact the beans, so every harvest the pair has to tweak their recipes slightly to maintain the same profile.
“When we went to visit the plantations, we looked for socially responsible coffees,” Tsujimoto explained.
“So no child labour involved, good farming practices and the money is benefiting the community. And of course, we’re dealing with countries that are third world, so we want to make sure there is no slavery or anything like that going on.
“And then at the same time, we wanted to make sure there was little environmental impact. Good farming practices usually entail being fairly traded and organic. So high altitude coffee, which take a little more care and time to grow.”
Several of their trade missions have involved Tsujimoto and Masana going into politically unstable and dangerous areas. They have countless stories of encounters while visiting countries like Colombia, Brazil, Rwanda, Burundi, Kenya, Congo and Zambia.
“At times (it’s) scary, and at times exciting. It’s never easy, that’s for sure,” Tsujimoto said.
“Once we find a real, credible source — someone we can deal with around there — then we don’t have to go back there as often. And we’ve made connections with various different countries. So we’re streamlining this right now.”
Today, their little two-person roasting company has grown to 12 employees, and Tsujimoto and Masana plan to launch their products nation-wide in the near future.
For their success, they thank their dedicated staff.
“The rewarding part is seeing our business grow. We have such an amazing team of young professionals,” Tsujimoto said.
“No company can grow this way or as fast as we have without good staff. It’s a bit of a blessing that we have been able to assemble these ambitious and energetic young people. I’ve never seen a group of people that cared so much for the company. And that’s really hard to find, you can’t really buy loyalty like that.”
Tsujimoto and Masana plan on treating their staff with the prize money they have won with the Small Business BC Award.
