BORN and raised in Suva, South Pacific Coffee Company operations manager Maikeli Dennis has set his sights on raising the standard of Fiji’s coffee culture.
A maritime engineer by trade, he has been involved in the hotel and tourism industry for most of his life.
“I’ve been in Nadi for almost 25 years,” Mr Dennis said.
“I’m a maritime engineer, but I’ve been involved in the hotel and tourism industry for most of my life.
“Between hospitality, hotel supply and here now with the South Pacific coffee manufacturing distribution as well as training.
“South Pacific Coffee Company we are 100 per cent Fijian owned.
“We have been based here in Nadi since 2020, and our focus has really been on developing Fiji’s coffee industry.”.
South Pacific Coffee Company is based by Nadi Back Rd and sources 100 per cent wild and naturally organic Fijian-grown coffee from diverse regions of Fiji.
Mr Dennis said their focus has been on figuring out how more of the Fiji tourism market could be supplied with local coffee.
“We’ve been based in Nadi since opening in 2020.
“Our focus has really been on developing Fiji’s coffee industry in terms of looking at working with more communities that have access to locally grown coffee
“Motivating farmers more locally to look into coffee as an additional crop that can be added to something they’re growing. Working directly with these farmers to source, process and then run the coffee through our manufacturing processing, which is essentially pulping, drying, and roasting and then packaging for both the local and the tourist markets
“And there’s obviously the export interest, but our focus has really been on figuring out how more of the Fiji tourism market can be supplied with local coffee.”
Mr Dennis said between 95 and 98 per cent of hotel and tourism properties around Fiji were using imported coffee.
“So, like kava or sugar, there is a lot more emphasis on exporting, but not enough emphasis on how we can start to supply and exhilarate more in the domestic market.
“Our main focus in terms of the coffee industry as a whole is figuring out how Fiji’s coffee culture can be brought up in altitude, whether through local supplies, through local cafes or training.”
Mr Dennis said over the past two to three years, the company has partnered with the Fiji Hotel and Tourism Association (FHTA) for events like HOTEC and for training purposes.
“We’ve started to integrate into USP’s hospitality programs in terms of educating more of the next generation of hospitality and service professionals on coffee, in terms of coffee in the value chain and coffee, not just as beverage, but understanding what the value of coffee really could do within Fiji’s agriculture and hospitality sector.
“For the last few months, we have been looking at how we can incorporate more local coffee into other domestic partners for different coffee-related products, but also figuring out what we could do in terms of working with the Ministry of Agriculture to help boost local incentives for farmers to look at coffee as a viable product for growing and processing.”