#Entrepreneur Spotlight: Pablo Gonzalez Cid of Café Punta del Cielo

This month our social entrepreneur spotlight is on Pablo González Cid, founder of Café Punta del Cielo, the first gourmet coffee brand from Mexico committed to the communities in its native country. Over fifteen years ago, Pablo started with the goal of building a company that would become Mexico’s authority on coffee while also giving back to the community.

Who is Pablo Gonzalez Cid?

Pablo González  Cid  was born in Mexico City in 1973 and studied Business Administration in anticipation of running  a franchise business his family owned, a Gloria Jeans coffee shop which eventually grew to seven branches. This franchised business sparked Pablo’s entrepreneurial spirit to take the first steps to gain experience in the world of coffee cafes.

Realizing that the coffee industry in Mexico had potential for development, Pablo visited coffee plantations around the country, traveled to Brazil and Costa Rica, and took courses in the United States and Europe.

After his return to Mexico, Pablo developed and patented his own ‘espresso pods’, and created canned coffee with an air valve to preserve the aroma of freshly roasted coffee.  Then he had the idea it was time to open his own business.

His challenge when starting Café Punta del Cielo was to motivate the local producers in Mexico to plant and harvest coffee of high quality, and increase sales by convincing the public to drink gourmet coffee by demonstrating that good Mexican coffee was possible.

Café Punta del Cielo Overview

Mexico is the sixth largest producer of coffee worldwide and the leading coffee supplier to the United States. While Mexico is a large producer of coffee worldwide, few Mexicans drink coffee. Pablo sought to change that.

Café Punta del Cielo began in 2004 with its first store in Mexico City. Café Punta del Cielo combined the Starbucks “coffee bar” model with  Mexico’s traditional old-world coffee stores in an effort to become Mexico’s first gourmet coffee brand. Now this gourmet coffee has more than 100 stores worldwide. Café Punta del Cielo has become an accomplished producer, exporting its coffee to Hong Kong for Mexico’s Independence Bicentennial as well as expanding into Spain.

The Eco-Impact

Pablo invested in research and development to introduce new consumer options such as pressurized cans of coffee, espresso pods (currently the only Mexican manufacturers of this product), and canned drinks like Xzo Icecap, as well as coffee extract and concentrate. His commitment and dedication to be environmentally friendly has led him to develop the environmental awareness program called Blue Sky.

The Blue Sky program has neutralized the CO2 emissions generated in their stores to cut down on carbon production.

However, what made Blue Sky stand out was that it delivered one of the most well-known impacts – 100% compostable and biodegradable filtered coffee packages and glasses for Café Punta del Cielo to use.  Here’s the rundown:

• Cornstarch coats the glass instead of plastic
• The trees that produce paper fiber for the cups are certified by the Sustainable Forestry Initiative
• Tintan is used for water-based printing
• The cups and glasses are certified by the Biodegradable Products Institute and meets international standards for composting

Believe in your community

Pablo González Cid has worked hard to create a gourmet coffee business dedicated to involving the local community and cutting down their carbon impact. They work with local farmers to produce their product to cut down on transportation costs and waste, as well as hiring within its community.

“I cannot be truly successful if the people in the countryside, or in the plantations, are not happy. We have to do this all-together, to work in the same direction, towards the same goals. You cannot be okay if your neighborhood is not okay,” says Pablo Gonzalez Cid.

Café Punta del Cielo has reached international attention because of their efforts to be a socially conscious and responsible company.  We think Pablo’s effort to create a large Mexican-centric brand is inspiring considering its dedication to environmental issues and must be admired as the café brand continues to expand its reach internationally. We hope more Mexican companies take the leap to cut down on pollution and think green.