Beverly Malbranche, Founder & CEO of Caribbrew, joins ChedHER to discuss how she built a coffee business from the ground up starting out in her New York City apartment, ways that the company is supporting small-scale farmers in Haiti, and plans for growing this impact-driven company.

chedHER

How 'Caribbrew' Supports Small-Scale Farmers in Haiti

Cara brew is coffee that's handpicked by Haitian farmers creating a pathway to wealth creation for these communities and joining us now Beverly mel branch founder and Ceo of Carrboro. So good to have you on the show Beverly, you're originally from Haiti. So what was it that sparked this idea for Caribou. Thank you so much for having me. Um So basically growing up in Haiti um my family, we grew up around coffee and all those great product, but when I came to the U. S. As a student um I realized that our coffee was not available internationally. So whenever we go home we would bring back as gifts to family and friends and they kept on asking where can I find this delicious coffee? So then the light bulb came on that this could be a way to really create long term jobs in Haiti and revive our coffee sector and also get to share a positive side of the country with friends and family all around the US. Yes, this is amazing. Not only just because the coffee tastes good but you can feel good when you're drinking that cup knowing it's benefiting the community and your products range from coffee bags, gold brooch, even skincare products. Tell us more about these products and the farmers that you work with to make them a reality. So basically we started with just the coffee bags and we've had more people who wanted to support um they probably had a queuing or single serve or cold boot. So we make sure we have an assortment of products for our customers. Um And then a few years ago we met with some farmers that also broke a cow to make chocolate a by product of that process is Cacau border. And that's how we obsess Eichel all of those products also in our skin care line. So there are many ways folks can support you have coffee, you got chocolate and even some skin care product. That sounds so good. You also started this company in your new york apartment. We know apartments in new york are pretty tiny. What was it like to grow and scale your business from there? Yes, so definitely um in new york, that's where we got our start and my apartment was crowded. Uh one good thing. It smells amazing. It smells like fresh roasted coffee. But I was sharing my product all over, I would go to local pop ups in Brooklyn in Harlem new york and that's where we would get folks to try the product and also to recognize that Haiti was a major coffee producer and spark that interest. Then of course new york is home to one of the largest coffee festival, the new york coffee festival. And there people just fell in love with our product. We met at least 1000 customers. And from there, it's been just a great history of growing and meeting more folks all over the state that's so excited. I didn't even realize that new york had a coffee festival. So pretty cool to hear that in addition to you finding like 1000 new customers, I'm also wondering how you're hoping to close the racial representation gap in the coffee industry as a black female business owner. We talked about how your mission is to not only create and deliver really good coffee but also benefit the community that you're operating in. Sure. So, um, it's funny enough that coffee is from black and brown communities, you get coffee from Africa, the caribbean and Asia, but many times you don't see that we presented at a water level on the business side. So my goal is to be um able to inspire younger women who will come after me that they can use a product that we, we we love on a daily basis to make a difference. And to also give a full week presentation of the folks who get to go the coffee because myself being from Haiti, I try my best to share the culture, their history so that by the time you get it to your cup, you get that full transparency and inspire others to do the same. So my goal is to represent the coffee and where it's from. And hopefully in doing that, I'm creating more spoke among other folks who look like me to try to do the same. Yeah. In Beverly there's no better time because august is black business month. What advice do you have for other black female founders out there? Yes, I would say um you know, first you trust your vision because so many times we have this great idea and we have the passion for it, but you're not too sure, so you just get started to trust your vision. Um the second is to find a good support system because um entrepreneurship is great, but it's a lot of work and your network will carry you there. So find other folks who you aspire to be like or folks who also come uh are just getting started. Well you can be a mental and immensely lastly give grace to yourself uh and starting with yourself is so important because when you are an entrepreneur, especially in the early years, you have never ending task list and sometimes you feel like you're not watching your go fast enough, so giving quest for yourself allows you to grieve to recharge and to get back at it. I love that advice and last question for you, I'm wondering what your plans are to grow the business and what's next for Caribou, Defin. So I'm very excited um to see the interest in seeing Henry's coffee coming back because we used to be a major coffee exporter back in the early 1900s, so what's next? We've been partnering with some local retail shops and my hope is that by next year will be available not only online, but too many retailers throughout new york state, we just had a partnership with Sports Farmer's Market that covers the West Coast. But I can't wait to be more available on the East Coast where we got started. So we are looking forward to great partnerships and to also partner with some of the local, local coffee shops and local restaurants as well. Sounds good. That's Beverly mel branch founder and Ceo of Caribou. Thank you so much for joining us.