Mayorga Coffee Roasters Know Beans -- and Profits From Them

Laura Sanchez
HispanicBusiness.com

NAME: Mayorga Coffee Roasters
INDUSTRY: Specialty coffee
RANK on Hispanic Business Faste Growing 100: #5
REVENUES (2005): $4.2 million
FOUNDED: 1996
OWNERSHIP: Privately owned

Martin Mayorga has fond memories of Nicaragua's lush countryside. He spent the better part of his youth there amid the country's fertile valleys and volcanic peaks before narrowly escaping the Sandinista revolution in the early 1980s.

"We didn't really have many options," he explained. "We left Nicaragua because my parents feared for all of our safety." He recalls not having to go to school for a year when he was 8 or 9 and because there was a war going on. "It was a crazy time."

One evening his parents told the family that they were going to Disneyland and they fled to the United States, settling in the Washington, D.C. area. It proved a fertile ground for the future entrepreneur. "I feel that my Hispanic culture, coupled with the opportunities offered to me by this great country, have allowed me to continually challenge myself and move forward."

As a young college student at Georgetown, Mr. Mayorga struggled between getting educated and waiting tables and other odd jobs to pay his tuition. He began selling cigars out of the trunk of his car, eventually connecting with larger vendors and expanding his side-business.

As it turned out, a close family friend back in Nicaragua was also having difficulty making a living selling his coffee to exporters who charged hefty fees. So Mr. Mayorga offered to broker the friend's green coffee in the U.S. to commercial roasters, eliminating the middleman.

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