Post by Jack DenverPost by b***@smithfarms.comPS:)
Mountain Thunder sells in our COSTCO, one pound of 100% Kona for
$18.95. ( I know through sources that he wants to raise his price, but
he is somehow locked in right now.)
How can thatParryEstatesell it for less, after it has traveled from
here to there? Doubt it.
They are selling theirs for $16.67/lb. which is only 12% less. Seems doable
to me, given that (1) they are not making an claims as to grade (2) they are
large scale farmers and vertically integrated. It's not like they are
selling Kona for $3/lb or something that would cast automatic and total
suspicion on their claims.
Post by b***@smithfarms.comThere is no Kona farm that has 791 acres of coffee. Period.
This is a true statement but AFAIK, Gold Coffee is not claiming that they
do - please show me where they make this claim? According to this article,
they have acquired a long term lease from the Kamehameha Schools of that
much acreage but about 300 acres are a nature preserve and will not be
cultivated. Of the remainder, the plan is to ramp up to 500 acres of
production over a number of years as demand justifies - I don't know how
many acres are in production now - this story is from 2001.
http://www.bizjournals.com/pacific/stories/2001/04/23/story4.html
I don't think it is in their interest to dump a huge amount of coffee on the
market and depress prices so I'm sure they will only add production in
relation to what they expect to sell and have contracts for with warehouse
clubs, etc. It seems to me that if they can broaden the knowledge and
awareness of the Kona brand this will ultimately benefit other Kona
producers as well. I can understand that they will naturally be viewed with
suspicion but at this point that's all you have - suspicion and no really
proof that anything dirty is going on. Shouldn't someone at least get in
their pickup and go see what's going on up there? Maybe they have 500 acreas
in coffee already, maybe there is not a tree in sight - shouldn't be too
hard to tell either way.
As illustrated in the linked article, Gold Coffee is looking to become
a major producer of Kona coffee. They seem to have built their
presence in Kauai through a partnership with three well-connected
partners who have put together two companies in Kona: The Parry
Estate, and PLK Air Services Group LLC.
The three partners are Frederick Parr, Robert Lindsey and Albert Kam.
Albert Kam, the companys' Chair, is a former chief financial officer
of the Mauna Loa Macadamia Nut Corporation and former CEO of Superior
Coffee Company. Robert Lindsey, Vice President-Hawaii Operations of
the Parry Estate and a Partner in PLK Air Services Group LLC is the
former Director of Land Assets Division, Endowment Group, Kamehameha
Schools. Parr, probably the least well-known of the three locally,
has "worked in the capital markets," according to Kam.
Clearly, Lindsey's influence was used to acquire the lease on the
Kamehameha Schools land, though the deal could have been consummated
while he was still holding the position with the Schools (I have no
way of knowing.) Kam has run a coffee company previously, so he was
brought in to head the venture, and Parr was brought in to secure the
financing.
After acquiring the rights to farm the Schools acrage, they set about
finding a suitable spot for a large processing and shipping facility
to handle large-scale output. The partners used their political
influence, probably combined with a liberal greasing of lobbying
dollars, to get a 20 year lease on land at the Kona airport and got
the state legislature (House Bill 1556) to grant PLK the right to
issue $25 million in state-backed tax-exempt bonds to fund the
construction of a large processing facility for coffee and macadamia
nuts. This was a pretty controversial step, because all of the
existing Kona farmers and processors were nervous about the effect of
a large rival moving into the market, but it passed in 2005.
So now, things seem to be on track for Gold Coffee and their
acquisition of a major presence in the Kona coffee producing market.
I have no idea what effect they are having, or will have on the
existing producers, but for better or worse, it looks like they're
there to stay (at least for the next 20 years.)
I am somewhat surprised that Cea Smith doesn't know anything about
this, as it seems that this seems to have been fairly heavily covered
in the local media, with protests and meetings of many farmers and
producers and many comments by local politicians. She is even named
in one of the articles I read on the subject (http://
www.hicoffeeco.com/KonaCoffeeWarshiftstoanewbattlefront/tabid/235/Default.aspx)
The principals at PLK have all sworn up and down in very public
pronouncements that they will not produce blended coffees, that they
will only make 100% Kona coffee. If Kona Gold is putting out some
Kona blends, as has been alledged, it is a bit disturbing because that
runs counter to the fact that "Kam and Lindsey signed pledges to
include a clause in their airport lease stating that they would only
sell 100 percent Kona Coffee and Hawaiian-grown macadamia nuts, and
that PLK would help lobby for federal protection of the 100 percent
Kona Coffee name." (from an article at http://hawaiiislandjournal.com/2005/10b05a.html)
I have no reason to doubt the wording on the box that claims that the
coffee is 100% Hawaiian Kona coffee. I haven't opened the box and
tasted it yet. That may give me reason to doubt. But from all
available evidence, it seems that this is being put out by a company
that has (ethically or not) made a concerted effort to build a large
coffee growing and production operation that would be able to take
advantage of efficiencies of scale and produce a product at a lower
cost and in a higher volume that would appeal to a large buyer like
Costco.
As in everything, it comes down to this: if you like it, buy it! If
you don't, don't!
