Cooxupé Roasting celebrates 40 years with focus on new opportunities

Founded in September 1984, the Cooxupé roasting industry is celebrating 40 years of activities, boosting the production and sale of roasted and ground coffee in Brazilian retail during this period.

Consumers in the states of Minas Gerais, São Paulo and Rio de Janeiro can find coffees signed by the cooperative, such as Evolutto and Prima Qualità, on supermarket shelves, while e-commerce guarantees supply in other areas of the country, expanding the range of products on this sales channel, including the Terraza and Safra Especial brands, espresso machines and accessories.

Currently, Cooxupé Roasting is the seventh largest roasting industry in the country, according to the Brazilian Coffee Industry Association (Abic). And according to the SA+ Retail Ecosystem Ranking, published in June by the magazine that is a reference in the retail sector, it is among the main coffee suppliers in Brazil.

Beginning of the trajectory

In the 80s, Cooxupé had a small roaster and made its own coffee to serve to visitors, who praised its quality, flavor and aroma. In addition, the cooperative members were eager to have their coffee industrialized.

“At that time, we were a small cooperative. The coffee grower would send the product, we would separate a few kilos to roast in a small roaster that was in the warehouse and he would take the roasted beans home. This was the first ‘trial run’ of roasting. Then, another desire arose: why not have Cooxupé ground coffee on the market? To bring all this together, the first step was to buy the company Torrefação de Café Guaxupé Ltda., which was located at the entrance to the city of Guaxupé in Minas Gerais and had the capacity to process up to 2 bags of beans per month”, explains Mário Panhotta da Silva, superintendent of Roasting and New Business at Cooxupé.

The first product launched on the market was Café Cooxupé, sold in the markets of São Paulo, Santos, Campinas, Ribeirão Preto, Orlândia, São João da Boa Vista, in the state of São Paulo, as well as Belo Horizonte and Guaxupé, in Minas Gerais. Later, with the developments and growth of the roasting industry, the brand migrated to Evolutto, also including the 'birth' of the Prima Qualità brand, establishing a new moment for the cooperative.

Enlargement

With the production of new brands and entries in three Brazilian states, Cooxupé built a manufacturing plant in the Japy Complex, in Guaxupé, increasing the industry's production capacity.

“We went from producing 120 tons per month to a factory with a capacity of 500 tons per month per shift. Today, we have a capacity of 2.700 tons and, with production that relies on three shifts, around 1.300 to 1.400 tons per month. So, these are two major milestones in our history: the first was the change of brands, in a strategy of consolidating industrialized coffee, separating the Cooxupé business and bringing in the Café Evolutto and Prima Qualità brands. The second was the construction of the new industrial plant,” says Mário.

future

According to the superintendent, all age groups are currently drinking coffee, especially young people, who are attracted by single-serve coffees. This new coffee consumer profile is very demanding and concerned about sustainability.

“We have Gerações, Cooxupé’s own sustainability protocol, in addition to the roasting activities such as the use of renewable energy. We also have a food safety process certification, FSSC 22000, which monitors our physical, chemical and biological coffee production processes,” says Mário.

The superintendent states that Brazilians and the world will not stop drinking coffee. This is because the product has a large market share and is the second most consumed beverage in Brazil, after water.

“We need to have extremely competitive industrial processes and understand the consumer. Consumption methods are changing and we know that in 10 or 20 years, what is available on the market today will be outdated. Our main role is to be aware of this movement and, from now on, understand that the public demands price, ESG, traceability, a degree of responsibility from the company and to know who produces and where the coffee they drink is produced”, reinforces Mário.

For the president of Cooxupé, “everything we have achieved is not just because we have coffee. It is because we have history, food security, 20 thousand cooperative families and all of this makes sense for those who buy our products”, says Carlos Augusto Rodrigues de Melo.