Digitalised coffee sourcing 

Did you know that the average Swiss person drinks more than 1’000 cups of coffee annually? The coffee machines, refinery, and marketing, have reached an almost unbeatable level. But although coffee has been traded for hundreds of years, the trading process got stuck in the old days. Accordingly, coffee beans still happen to unnecessarily change ownership up to twelve times on the way to the roastery. Especially for producers, this status quo is very intransparent and disadvantageous for making profitable transactions.

While consumers had been given more transparency through labels and certifications, producers stayed in the rear: consumers know where the coffee comes from, but producers still don’t know where the coffee beans go and how many traders make money with the goods on their way to the end consumer.

For Raphael Studer, CEO of Algrano, this needed to change. So the team of Algrano built a platform that enables coffee producers and roasters to connect directly online. No intermediate stations are required anymore. The fact that Algrano changed the processes of green coffee trading with a powerful technology drew industry leaders’ attention to them without creating a bad vibe between them.

In addition to programming the platform, Algrano exports, and imports the traded goods with service providers and thus creates the first completely transparent supply chain. Algrano also takes care of the following:

● the sourcing and scouting of producers with coffee of the highest quality
● the matching on the online marketplace between roasters and producers
● export, import, shipping, and final delivery throughout Europe
● warehousing
● insurance and financing

The platform is free to use for both trading partners. For the successful mediation of a new supplier/customer, Algrano receives a commission from the producers and the roasters.

Since Algrano has digitalised and automated all these processes on its platform, this is real pioneering work. Before, the green coffee industry used to operate primarily via phone, email, and PDFs.

This digital approach generates data that enables Algrano to show at any time and on every contract who earns how much from what. And finally, it is possible to see how much of the final price goes directly to the coffee producer. The best part is that coffee producers achieve
a 30-40% higher sales price through the new trading model than through alternative channels. And roasters have the maximum flexibility to process even small quantities autonomously online.

The process that led Algrano to receive the High Potential Label was getting the founders closer to their growth plans: “External confirmation from experts and recognised names like the Swiss Economic Forum are always exciting, but the journey to get there was even more valuable. It opened doors and got us a network of service providers and experts who can support our growth and take us further,” explains Florian Schaffner, CFO of Algrano.

Algrano will continue to expand and make coffee trading transparent and fair on a much bigger scale. There are plans to enter the US market, add new services such as microfinancing for coffee farmers. With those achievements, millions of cups of coffee will become better than ever – in taste and for your conscience. Cheers to your next 1’000 cups of coffee.