Algrano has a packed schedule of activities during the SCA Expo in Chicago this year. Our team is fired up to meet you at McCormick Place at Booth #2218, where we’ll host meetings between roasters and producers.
We’re also organising workshops, lectures, parties, and collaborations. Here’s an overview of what promises to be a lively Expo week.
We hope to see you there. Find our full program below:
- Build Your Direct Sourcing Program: 2 x full-day workshops
- Internet Café with producer-roaster meetings
- Lecture: Risk Analysis and Operational Planning in Direct Supply Chains: DIY Logistics and Financing for Roasters
- Lecture: Beyond the Cup: Leveraging Extrinsic Attributes To Build A Popular Coffee Menu
- Bean to Cup virtual reality experience with Cropster
- “From Analogue to Digital” Saturday night party with IKAWA
- Producer evening: Expo kickstart
Build Your Direct Sourcing Program:
2 x full-day workshops
When: April 10th and 11th
Where: Bodega Room at ACME Hotel Company, Chicago
Duration: 1 day, from 9 AM to 5 PM, followed by drinks and networking
Investment: If you'll need an extra night or two in Chicago to attend, we'll cover it along with meals and social activities
Building a solid sourcing program makes planning your green purchases, forecasting your product launches, and budgeting easier. Going direct to the producer also helps you differentiate and compete in a saturated market.
In these full-day workshops, you’ll learn how to build a coffee business plan with best sourcing practices and efficiencies baked into it.
Understand how the supply chain works from exporting to importing, taste coffees selected for you in curated cuppings, meet producers and network with roasters from across the USA.
The guest speaker line-up includes:
- Daniel Horbat, Sumo Coffee Roasters
World Cup Tasters Champion 2019, Ireland’s Brewers Cup Champion 2024 - Rafael Vinhal, Vinhal Cafés Artesanais
Cup of Excellence Presidential Award - Brazil 2022 - Irene Villavicencio, MAV Coffees
Cup of Excellence Presidential Award - El Salvador 2022
The workshops are aimed at green buyers of independent roasteries and spaces are limited.
Internet Café with producer-roaster meetings
Where: Booth #2218
When: April 12th-14th, all-day
Duration: Around 30 minutes; extra time for cuppings
Over 40 coffee producers from our network are flying into Chicago from 14 different origins. Our Internet Café is the place to meet them. Whether you already have a relationship or you’re looking for great coffees from like-minded farmers and cooperatives, this is the place to be.
Book a meeting slot with producers like Clearpath, Hacienda Cafetera La Pradera and Majestic Coffees, Colombia; Sancoffee and Vinhal Cafés Artesanais, Brazil; Boledu, Ethiopia; Baho Coffee, Rwanda; Origin Coffee Lab, Peru; Sakami Coffee, Kenya; and many more.
Lecture program
Risk Analysis and Operational Planning in Direct Supply Chains: DIY Logistics and Financing for Roasters
Speakers: Raphael Studer, Algrano’s CEO, and Marcus Young, Executive Vice President of Coffee, goodboybob coffee roasters
When: Friday, April 12, 1:00 PM - 2:00 PM
Room Number: S403AB
Raphael and Marcus will give a comprehensive overview of green coffee sourcing operations. They will focus on risk management in direct supply chains, from quality to shipping timeframes and financing.
Participants will gain crucial information to manage direct supply chains with producer engagement and to support origin partners in establishing pathways to the international market.
Beyond the Cup: Leveraging Extrinsic Attributes To Build A Popular Coffee Menu
Moderator: Luiza Pereira Furquim, Algrano
Speakers: Amaris Gutierrez-Ray, Senior Director of Coffee & Roasting, Joe Coffee Company; Ted Stachura, Director of Coffee, Equator Coffees; and Josh Longsdorf, Operating Partner / Green Buyer, Anthology Coffee
When: Saturday, April 13, 10:15 AM - 11:15 AM
Room Number: S403AB
This panel will discuss new opportunities for product differentiation in light of consumers’ increasing appetite for sustainability and origin information.
We will present solutions from industry leaders that integrate extrinsic attributes to build popular coffee menus, betting on consumer education and social values to strengthen existing product lines or to create new ones.
Virtual reality experience with Cropster
Where: Cropster’s VR Booth #1051
When: April 12th - 14th, any time
This is what a coffee’s supply chain really looks like. This Cropster VR collab is like an origin trip taster where you’ll see a coffee journey up close.
Starting in coffee fields at the Ilamatepec mountain range in El Salvador, you’ll follow the coffee to a roastery and shop in Barcelona, going through Algrano’s QC lab in Zurich without taking a single step.
The VR experience is a collaboration between Cropster, MAV Coffees, Syra Coffee and Algrano to raise awareness about sustainability and our commitments to the coffee industry.
“From Analogue to Digital” Saturday night party with IKAWA
When: Saturday, April 13th, 6 PM - 9 PM
Where: Overflow Coffee, 1449 S Michigan Ave
We teamed up with IKAWA to party from analogue to digital at Overflow Coffee, in the former building of Vee-Jay Records, one of the first black-owned and female-owned labels in the United States.
Overflow combines coffee shop and community space, hosting regular arts and performance events, the perfect spot for two tech companies in a traditional industry to swing to excellent tunes with a glass of local beer - or natural wine - in one hand and classic Chicago-style dog in the other.
Grab an invite from the Algrano or IKAWA booth during the show.
Producer evening: Expo kickstart
Our traditional evening for coffee producers is back to kickstart the Expo weekend. It’s a chance for our community to have drinks and network with farmers, cooperatives and exporters from multiple countries.
Incredibly multicultural, this is a space for producers to learn about other origins and how coffee is grown across the globe. It’s also an opportunity to meet the USA team before the storm and get tips on how to make the most of the Expo.
This is an invite-only event.
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