MTPak Coffee is once again delighted to support the sixth edition of the Producer & Roaster Forum as a Gold Sponsor.
Each year, Producer and Roaster Forum (PRF 2023) brings together coffee professionals from around the globe to nurture long-term commercial relationships and partnerships.
This year, PRF El Salvador will be held at the Salamanca Exhibition Center from 16 to 17 March. The event will involve two full days of networking, workshops, talks, and roundtable discussions.
As a Gold Sponsor, MTPak Coffee will play a significant role in the event as it continues in its aim to unite the roaster community.
Read on to find out more about PRF and how becoming a sponsor aligns with MTPak Coffee’s values.
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Sign upWhy should you attend Producer & Roaster Forum?
Since launching in 2016, PRF has provided an essential platform for the coffee community, from traders and exporters to roasters and farmers.
The annual event focuses on one origin country, with previous instalments held in Colombia, El Salvador, Brazil, Guatemala, and Honduras.
This year, the sixth iteration of Producer & Roaster Forum will return to El Salvador – where the very first PRF event was held.
El Salvador is an international hub within Central America: it is well-connected, easily accessible, and great for travel. The country has a burgeoning coffee industry, with thousands of producers cultivating some of the world’s best shade-grown coffee.
Despite this, El Salvador hasn’t historically been a major destination for industry events. As such, PRF 2023 is an opportunity to bring a high-quality, professional forum to the country to promote Salvadoran coffee on the international stage.
At the heart of PRF is a two-day forum, which includes an extensive programme of talks, educational workshops, cuppings, presentations from global industry leaders, and networking opportunities for both producers and roasters.
Attendees can also expect to witness coffee professionals at the top of their game competing in several coffee competitions, including two SCA-sanctioned events that will serve as qualifiers for the World Coffee Championships.
“PRF provides the opportunity for stakeholders across the industry to witness this transition first-hand,” says PRF Colombia’s event director, Julio Guevara.
“It also allows the host country to close the gap between commercial and specialty coffee by learning more about global trends in the coffee industry.”
PRF El Salvador aims to stimulate conversations around empowering producers.
PRF also offers roasters an Origin Trip Experience. This four-day expedition places guests with local coffee producers, giving them hands-on experience with production, processing, and trade in El Salvador.
What does Gold sponsorship entail?
As a Gold Sponsor, MTPak Coffee has committed to the success of PRF 2023. In return, the company will enjoy significant marketing both in the build-up to and throughout the event.
Gold sponsorship is limited to two sponsors and includes a comprehensive marketing package, as well as exclusive benefits at the forum itself.
We will have a dedicated space at PRF El Salvador, where visitors can come to find out more about sustainable packaging and its importance to the future of the coffee industry.
We’ll also be looking to spark conversations about everything from carbon neutrality to the UN’s Sustainable Development Goals, while explaining how to make the switch to recyclable and compostable products.
This is not the first time that MTPak Coffee has sponsored PRF – we were also a Gold Sponsor at last year’s event. Other prominent brands that have been PRF sponsors in the past include Mayorga Organics, Rainforest Alliance, and Ally Coffee.
A perfect partnership: How PRF aligns with MTPak Coffee’s values
Since launching in 2016, MTPak Coffee has been committed to not only driving innovation and sustainability in the coffee packaging industry but strengthening the roaster community as a whole.
We supply roasters and coffee shops around the world with compostable and recyclable coffee packaging, while offering advice on how to move away from a “take-make-waste” approach to a more long-term strategy.
At the same time, we have become a trusted voice on some of the industry’s most important topics. Through our Education Centre, we offer a range of perspectives and industry insight to help coffee professionals make more informed decisions and reach consumers more effectively.
In this sense, MTPak Coffee has the same overarching goal as Producer & Roaster Forum: to generate conversations in the coffee industry and bring awareness to innovation in everything from sourcing to packaging.
“We’ve always been more than just a packaging company,” says MTPak Coffee’s founder, Mark Zhou. “We see ourselves as part of the wider coffee community.”
PRF also promotes MTPak’s belief in direct trade, whether sourcing coffee or packaging.
“Direct trade for coffee packaging is important because it allows roasters to communicate their needs to the people who are actually manufacturing the products,” Mark explains.
“It’s a simple concept, but very few packaging companies offer it. They prefer to go through large distributors who are often less equipped to handle client requests. At PRF El Salvador, we hope to create more of these mutually beneficial direct relationships.”
PRF is one of the industry’s most impactful coffee events held in a producing country. It is also a valuable opportunity for international coffee producers and roasters to network, establish business relationships, and partnerships, and gain global market insights.
MTPak Coffee is incredibly excited to play such an important role at both PRF El Salvador and PRF Colombia.
We hope that our continued commitment to the event will encourage more and more roasters to take part in the conversations it aims to ignite.
After all, sustainability, circular economy, and innovation are not simply buzzwords – they’re issues central to the success of specialty coffee.
