The intent is to make it specialty coffee e-commerce with the largest variety of microlots and nanolots from all producing regions in Brazil
Virgilio Dornelas grew up helping his father, Mr. Alcides, in the small property of three bushels and seven thousand feet of coffee in Braunna Preta, Caparaó. There, at an altitude of 1010 meters, at the age of seven, he learned how to look after his small farm, since from an early age all were encouraged to have their own business.
“That blessed money paid for my tourism college in Muriaé,” says Virgilio. In college, he specialized in strategic planning and development of destinations and was using his knowledge acquired in the NGO Iracambi www.br.iracambi.com, focused on the preservation of the Atlantic Forest. There, he met his wife, Englishwoman Jemma Elizabeth Curry.
“I grew professionally in the Third Sector, with community development and noticed a big bottleneck in the marketing of specialty coffees, from the perspective of small producers and microroasters, who have a hard time selling their coffees. When they manage to spawn a small production, they rarely get a good price for their work. We studied all the difficulties and opportunities and created MelhorCafé,” he explains.
And he makes his point: “We are not just another e-commerce that sells specialty coffees. Since we carry all this third sector footprint, we do not just sell. We are here to sell and promote development, strengthening and increasing the strength of small family farmers,” he says proudly.
Virgílio Dornelas – https://melhorcafe.com/o-que-e-a-melhorcafe-com/
For Virgílio, the main goal of e-commerce is to help small producers, micro-managers or small specialty coffee cooperatives to sell directly to end consumers, from any part of the country. Hence, producers will build their virtual store, which is hosted within the Platform, without any cost. “Producers themselves create their promotions, discount coupons, register how many brands they wish to sell, manage the inventory, manage the orders, always with our support,” he says. And each producer is also responsible for the delivery of their coffees and for their dissemination.
“We have realized that the more information one has about the product, the greater the sale is. The most beautiful packaging also helps. We give full support to producers, since many of them are not yet familiar with the internet,” he says.
In turn, producers are required to show off as much information as they might have, such as certifications, harvesting, management, sieves, regions, crops, form of drying etc.
“Basically, we work as www.MercadoLivre.com.br, but specialized in specialty coffees. Customers have the opportunity to choose between several coffees from different regions and directly from producers, always with complete freshness and a modern, safe and easy to use environment,” says Virgilio.
And just like in any marketplace, producers charge a percentage of 11% on the coffees they sell. With that money, Virgílio manages to keep the other two programs that are part of the platform, the affiliate program BestMelhor.com and the MelhorCafé project.
How to certify the quality of specialty coffees sold?
With such a comprehensive range of specialty coffees on the Platform, the most important question is: how can you attest to the quality of the coffees sold? “We thought really hard about that and, frankly, the guarantee is the feedback from our customers, mostly coffee lovers. But, we insist on selecting the producers, we only work with those who have great references of the market and who care about the quality.
Terreiro Suspenso de Produtor do Parceiro D’ELAS Coffee – https://melhorcafe.com/loja/delascoffee/
“To participate, the first thing a producer needs to do is sign up at the Platform. After that, we will look for references in the market. If he or she is approved, and already has a store being run, every time a sale is made, after 15 days, we will send an email to the customer asking if he or she liked the coffee. If not, we will refund the money. If the customer wishes, they can also give their impressions about the coffee they bought on the producer’s own page”, explains Virgílio.
Colheita do Café de Produtores da Agricultura Familiar Parceiros Café Ouro da Serra – https://melhorcafe.com/loja/cafeourodaserra/
Signature Club
The next step will be to offer the customer a signature club in the first half of 2019. “It will be revolutionary, given the diversity of labels we will offer. Literally, there will be dozens. At the moment, we are validating producers and roasters, since the logistics will be very complicated. After all, there are countless different rural producers, different roasters and different freight values, the opposite reality of the current specialty coffee subscribing clubs in Brazil,” he says.
Customer profile at MelhorCafé
Despite the short time in the air, only four months, the entrepreneur can already design a profile of its customers: “They are very demanding, looking for coffees above 90 points at the SCAA scale, mostly in São Paulo and Minas Gerais. Unfortunately, the price of freight limits the deliveries to more distant places, such as the South, where we already have many followers and admirers,” he says. “But we will handle it.” His audience is basically composed of end consumers, however, countless coffee shops have already looked for him, which forces him to work in order to find a way of serving them in the best possible way.
Another important factor is the customer’s purchase history. “Every time they buy, they want a different specialty coffee,” he says. On average, 40% of his customers choose three to four coffees from different regions and roast at each purchase. “There are also those who buy every 20 days, wishing to try one at a time,” he explains. There are already 200 buyers and I expect to end the year with 100 producers registered in the Platform.
MelhorCafé Project
A portion of the profits from the MelhorCafé Platform will go to the MelhorCafé project, created to provide technical support to producers with potential and interest in producing specialty coffees. Or producers who already produce specialty coffees but do not yet have their own brand.
It all started with the experience of a small producer in Serra do Brigadeiro, in the municipality of Rosario da Limeira, which has always produced coffee. With the advice of Virgílio and his partner, they guided the producer for six months throughout the process, including post-harvest. In the end, the producer achieved a coffee shop with 87 points. “We will work to make the MelhorCafé Project become independent, establishing partnerships with other companies and organizations and becoming a reference in the basic support of family production, promoting the sustainability and quality of Brazilian coffees,” he concludes.
Colheita do Café de Produtores da Agricultura Familiar Parceiros Fazenda Édio Miranda – https://melhorcafe.com/o-que-e-a-melhorcafe-com/
To make the project feasible, a small portion of the value of each BestCafé sale will help other growers to improve their coffees. In addition to all the technical support, they will stimulate them in the roast, in the creation of their own brand so that they can market them directly. “The idea is that the project becomes an independent NGO, whose main motto will be to value the producer. I never forget my father, after an intense day of farming, coming home discouraged because he could not get fair prices for his coffees,” he recalls.
MelhorCafé.com Affiliate Program
The Affiliate Program was created to financially reward people who speak about and disclose the coffees of MelhorCafé.com, whether it be in blogs, on Instagram etc. It works like this: people who own a blog, an Instagram account and post photos of coffees, with a link from the Platform on the post, can earn a small percentage of their sales.
To do so, you must register as a MelhorCafé affiliate. Once this is done, you will receive access to the Affiliate’s Control Panel, which has several features, among them, statistics, commissions to receive, generation of links, etc. From there, one should just make a post with their personal link. Whenever someone makes a purchase of any Affiliate Program coffee using your link, you will be given a commission that can get up to 10% of the value of the coffee.
It is important to note that producers and micro-operators are not obliged to place their coffees in the Affiliate Program. “It is totally optional, including the amount of the commission that is paid per nomination”, he ends.
Pictures: Melhor Café
