How Mayorga Operates Differently: We Don’t Participate in Trade Shows
In the food industry, trade shows are seen as a necessity. Brands set up massive booths, small companies hustle for attention, and everyone spends hundreds of thousands of dollars just to be part of the scene. At Mayorga Coffee, we’ve made a conscious decision about 9 years ago to not participate in industry shows that focus on sales.
Why? Because we refuse to play the game where costs are passed to consumers or indirectly taken from farmers—just for the sake of buying into an industry illusion. It just doesn’t align with our commitment to efficiency, fairness, and impact.
Trade Shows Are a Costly Illusion
Trade shows don’t come cheap. A typical booth at a major specialty coffee event can cost anywhere from $40,000 to $400,000 when you factor in:
- Booth space rental (which alone can cost tens of thousands of dollars)
- Custom displays, branding, and marketing materials
- Flights
- Hotels
- Per diem for staff
- Shipping equipment and product samples
- Sponsorships and pay-to-play promotions
These costs don’t just disappear—they’re built into the price of the product or they’re “found” by squeezing suppliers (small, impoverished farmers in the case of most coffee).
This means when you buy from companies that prioritize flashy trade show appearances, you’re paying for their marketing while they try to convince you that their higher pricing is based on quality. We’d rather invest in the quality of our coffee, the well-being of the farmers who produce it, and creating value for our consumers.
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Time & Energy That Should Be Spent Elsewhere
Trade shows aren’t just expensive—they’re a massive drain on time and energy.
- Months of preparation to design booths, schedule meetings, and coordinate logistics
- Days away from our team, our roasting facility, and the farmers we work with
- Countless hours spent on networking that often leads to performative conversations rather than real business relationships
Instead of wasting time on industry theatrics, we’re:
- we’re on the ground with producers, learning alongside with them
- Focusing on improving our operations and quality to drive value to consumers
- Strengthening relationships with retailers and customers who actually drive impact by supporting us
We don’t believe in attending events just for show. We’d rather let our coffee and our work speak for itself.
A Direct Approach to Business
At Mayorga, we operate lean and efficiently so we can pass that value to our customers and farmers. Trade shows are the opposite of that.
- Instead of paying a premium for a booth, we invest in our direct trade partnerships
- Instead of wasting resources on flashy displays, we focus on building our long term relationships with farmers
- Instead of trying to impress the industry, we focus on improving our craft and making real impact while impressing our customers
The specialty coffee industry often operates on a smoke-and-mirrors model, where marketing budgets are disguised and costs for "brand visibility" end up in the price of the product. We choose to be transparent about how we spend our resources—and trade shows don’t make the cut.
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The Bottom Line
At Mayorga, every decision we make comes down to one thing: Does it create value for our farmers, our customers, and our purpose?
Trade shows don’t. They’re expensive, inefficient, and ultimately, a marketing expense that gets passed onto you.
So instead of spending six figures on a booth, we’ll keep doing what we do best.
That’s how we do business—differently, and with purpose.
Con Orgullo Latino,
Martin Mayorga
Founder & CEO, Mayorga Coffee
(NOTE: we do sponsor the Producer Roaster Forum, which has a small tradeshow component. The reason why we've supported this event is because it aims to bring coffee roasters to origin countries in an effort to bridge the communication gap. This has been an investment to give farmers better market access)
