787 Coffee, a Puerto Rican coffee company who roasts their own beans for their 20+ locations in New York City and Puerto Rico, knows what it takes to face setbacks and succeed. Co-founder and CEO Brandan Ivan Peña spoke with Choco about his big ambitions for the company that has already survived a hurricane and pandemic.
According to the National Coffee Association, the average American coffee consumer drinks three cups of coffee every day. And 53% of coffee drinkers want to buy coffee that is good for the environment, coffee farmers and their communities.
This is the growing market that Brandon Ivan Peña and partner Sam Sepulveda tapped into when they started 787 Coffee. Choco has been with them from early on, providing the technical support to make ordering from suppliers between many locations possible. “I don’t know if we would have been able to grow so fast without Choco. Because it’s so simple. Choco is everything we believe in at 787—keeping it easy, pretty and efficient,” Brandon said.
787 started with a single farm in 2014. “We went to Puerto Rico and we bought 103 acres of what used to be a coffee farm that was abandoned. We started growing, started learning, started connecting with two or three good humans who could help us understand the area. And then once that happened, we started traveling the world. We went all the way from Rwanda to Guatemala to basically understand the concept that is specialty coffee.”
787 grows, roasts and sells their own single origin coffee beans with notes of dark chocolate, butter and citrus. Grown on an idyllic, sustainable farm in Maricao, Puerto Rico, quality is a high priority for the beans that continually rank well above the cut-off for specialty coffee established by the Specialty Coffee Association. “We handpick all of our cherries,” Brandon described, referring to the fruit that houses the coffee beans. “They have to be red. They have to be ripe.”
787 is centered around humans—the farmers, roasters, baristas, suppliers and customers that make 787 possible. Since starting out in 2014, 787 has grown from an island farm to a company with over twenty coffee shop locations, and they have ambitious plans for additional growth. Choco, who shares 787’s passion for sustainability and simplicity, has been a powerful tool in their expansion. “It’s just an amazing way of simplifying an operation. It’s helped everywhere. We were at four or five shops when we started with Choco and it took us to a different level.”
But 787’s success hasn’t always been easy. In September of 2017, Hurricane Maria devastated Puerto Rico and destroyed 97% of 787’s crop. “We lost basically everything we had. It was the first full production year for us, and everything was lost within four hours.”
After being forced to close their existing coffee shops due to a lack of supply, 787 was on hiatus as Brandon and his co-founder decided what to do next. “We had a big responsibility to our coworkers. We learned that from hurricane Maria. They don’t have a lot of options. I even considered not opening again,” Brandon admits. “And when I was deciding if we should reinvest at the farm, my coworkers reached out and said, ‘We don’t have anything else.’ The responsibility was immense.”
For Brandon and 787, the goal is bigger than selling coffee. “We’re not just a company that goes and opens in Puerto Rico, makes sales and then brings the money out of the island. We’re doing quite the opposite. We’re bringing more economy to the island. We don’t want to lose that essence,” he explained.
787 is the phone area code for the island and a clever way to display 787’s heritage on the streets of New York City, which has a large Puerto Rican population. “In our case,” Brandon said, “it’s beyond me or anyone else that works with me. We’re representing an area code. We are going to be one of the largest companies in Puerto Rico.”
By taking advantage of Choco’s ordering technology, 787 manages ordering for each coffee shop location and their farm from a single app. Brandon explained, “We were the first ones to use Choco in Puerto Rico. And people love it. We’ve reached out to every single one of our vendors. It’s been really, really helpful, even for small, very local companies.”
When it comes to customers, Brandon is honed in. “We are customer centric,” he stated. “And I know they say that a lot in business, but we really mean it. We wouldn’t do anything that our customers don’t want.” This includes looking extensively at simple customer satisfaction surveys automatically initiated with every credit card purchase, digging into transaction details, and frequent engagement on social media. “Social media does a lot for us. We ask a lot of questions. We chose our logo based on social media. We put it out there. We’re thinking of opening a couple shops in different areas. We put it out there. Then people get to be part of the process. We engage our audience a lot.”
In 2020, as many businesses across the world were closing their doors, 787 was expanding. After an initial three month closure during the heaviest of COVID restrictions, 787 used their hard-earned resilience to keep pushing towards their business goals to open additional coffee shops. As many coffee shops around New York City were struggling to make rent and facing closure, 787 would work with the owners to acquire their shops.
Looking towards the future, 787’s plans aren’t anywhere near complete. With goals to open 25 stores in NYC by the end of the year, 100 within the next three years, five shops in Puerto Rico, a growing coffee subscription service, and a second farm to keep up with growth, 787’s caffeinated journey is far from over.
To learn more about 787 Coffee, visit their website
