COVID-19: How We’re Responding and Keeping Coffee Moving

March 18, 2020

Here at InterAmerican Coffee, we are closely monitoring developments in the COVID-19 pandemic and modifying our emergency preparations accordingly.

While the situation remains fluid, we’re taking every precaution to ensure that our business operations keep running and coffee remains available, while making the safety of our employees, customers and communities our top priority.

To date:

— We are following the guidance of the CDC, the World Health Organization and our local governments.

— We are in constant communication with our warehouses, which tell us that as long as the government allows them to stay open, they’ll continue operating.

— Fortunately, all our key business systems, from accounting to trading, ERP and transportation management, are cloud based, so we expect our supply-chain information flow from port to destination to operate exactly as usual.

— All employees have secure access to ERP systems and are equipped to work remotely; most already are. Because we have four offices and teams spread across the country, our habits are already optimized for remote communication. Our phone lines are covered—please feel free to call—and your trader will update you about any major changes.

— We proactively contacted the senior management of all exporters, shipping lines, service providers, warehouses and financial institutions and asked for their emergency plans. We’ve begun sharing this information in a new “COVID-19 News Ticker”—an email we’re sending perhaps daily (or as updates dictate).  Here’s a sample of the first News Ticker here; if you’d like to receive these updates and aren’t already, please sign up at the top of the page.

While we expect some sporadic service disruptions, we are taking every preemptive step to address imaginable problems. If you have questions or concerns, please don’t hesitate to contact our Customer Service (logistics-outbound.iacus@nkg.coffee) or Trade teams (traders.iacus@nkg.coffee).

We are here for you — and wishing you and yours safe and healthy days ahead.