This Side

Partnerships had been proposed left and right, but it wasn't until Sara Morrocchi came along that expanding This Side Up's core team with a quality and development expert seemed in order. Sara's vision and that of Lennart's are 100% aligned and she's visited more origins and tasted more coffees than most people on this planet. Sara also introduced Lennart to Franco Tesoro Tess of Aziende Riunite Caffè - perhaps an unlikely partner at first glance, a coffee trading company established in 1856, family owned, Italian. However, like us they too had been looking for a way to answer to the need for change in the coffee industry and were thrilled to hear about our radically different trade model. Very soon after we started talking, it became clear that we had a lot to learn from each other. Franco showed us how inefficiently we had been moving coffee up to now, while Lennart and Sara showed ARC how rewarding it is to engage roasters as developmental partners. Moreover, despite our different backgrounds, our values turned out to be very similar. Amidst increasing market consolidation and price pressure on exporting countries, they never sold out to mega-corporations, remained true to their ethical standards and always understood the need to stay dynamic and innovative like a startup. 2019: From importer to WORLDWIDE coffee community.