roasting and chocolate manufacturing founded 1985 headquarters mercedes norte heredia costa rica number of locations 140 stores area served costa rica peru mexico chile united states cura ao st. thomas antigua & barbuda new caledonia colombia brasil ecuador guatemala uruguay republica dominicana . key people phillippe aronson president pablo vargas ceo products costa rican colombian and peruvian coffees and chocolates nuts candies gifts and specialty products revenue 100 million website cafebritt.com caf britt is a costa rican company that produces gourmet coffee fine chocolate and specialty gift items . they have 140 gift stores in ten countries in latin america the caribbean australia and the united states and an online store . they create and sponsor coffee related tourism and education in costa rica . the company employs nearly 1 000 people . 1 many of the 92 coffee and gift stores it owns and operates are located in international airports . its coffee roasting and chocolate making operations are based in costa rica peru and colombia . 2 contents 1 history 2 coffee and tourism 3 see also 4 gallery 5 external links 6 references history edit north american coffee broker steve aronson founded the company in 1985 to market roasted costa rican coffees to the domestic market . 3 it was the first gourmet coffee roaster in the country ; 3 at the time most of the best coffee was exported to foreign markets aronson decided to promote the idea that good quality should also be consumed locally . 4 the name britt is a tribute to scandinavian countries which are one the largest consumers of coffee ; 4 the name was chosen after aronson opened a contest to pick a name . 4 the company expanded its operations with the introduction of chocolates in 2000 as well as opening its first store at juan santamar a airport in 2001 . 3 in 2003 it added further stores at various hotels popular with tourists in costa rica . 3 in 2005 new stores were opened in per the caribbean and chile . in 2009 the company announced plans to open its own coffee roasting plant in canc n m xico in order to avoid the high import tariffs imposed by m xico on foreign coffees . 3 after 25 years at the helm steve aronson yielded his position as president to his son phillipe in 2009 . 3 coffee and tourism edit in 1991 caf britt started to combine coffee with tourism with the introduction of the britt coffee tour a play staged in its own coffee plantation traces coffee s production cycle . 4 some 50 000 people take the tour each year . 4 more technically oriented versions of the tour have been developed for visiting coffee experts or serious amateurs . 4 see also edit coffee production in costa rica economy of costa rica jamaican blue mountain coffee juan valdez cafe juan valdez drinks costa rican coffee gallery edit a coffee plantation tour . cafe britt store external links edit official site references edit britt shop story retrieved 2012 01 15 . cafe britt s premiun gourmet coffee selection . cafe britt . retrieved 2016 05 20 . a b c d e f arce a. sergio 2009 12 07 . caf britt invertir 8 millones en expansi n durante el 2010 . la naci n in spanish . retrieved 2016 10 13 . a b c d e f cordero juan fernando 2005 11 27 . el profeta del grano de oro . la naci n in spanish . retrieved 2016 10 13 . retrieved from https en.wikipedia.org w index.php title caf britt & oldid 744287607 categories companies of costa ricacoffee companiescoffee brandscosta rican brandsconfectioneryhidden categories cs1 spanish language sources es navigation menu personal tools not logged intalkcontributionscreate accountlog in namespaces article talk variants views read edit view history more search navigation main pagecontentsfeatured contentcurrent eventsrandom articledonate to wikipediawikipedia store interaction helpabout wikipediacommunity portalrecent changescontact page tools what links hererelated changesupload filespecial pagespermanent linkpage informationwikidata itemcite this page print export create a bookdownload as pdfprintable version languages espa ol edit links this page was last modified on 14 october 2016 at 08 57 . text is available under the creative commons attribution sharealike license ; additional terms may apply . by using this site you agree to the terms of use and privacy policy . wikipedia is a registered trademark of the wikimedia foundation inc. a non profit organization . privacy policy about wikipedia disclaimers contact wikipedia developers cookie statement mobile view