It dawns again in the coffee plantation owned by Mrs. Dulce, she took over the family business after her brothers emigrated to another country, another continent. In spite of her meticulous knowledge of the entire production process, the excess of responsibilities with her family, employees and merchants, make it seem as if she is in a battle from which she must emerge victorious.

After 10 minutes of meditation, morning exercises and a cup of coffee with freshly ground beans from her hacienda, Dulce walks to the offices located a short distance from the house.

With an optimistic greeting, she strolls through the corridors and smiles with each employee, arrives at her private office and tells her assistant the urgency of hiring the services of a marketing company to help her find a triumphant way out of the difficult reality that the company was going through.

A few days before the beginning of the Christmas season, the sales of its coffee production have been affected by the amount of illegal imports that have arrived in the country, the evasion of taxes allows imported coffee to be cheaper than national coffee and in a country where inflation is affecting the salaries of its inhabitants, the option to make the money work is to buy cheaply even if it means less quality of the product.

In the warehouse of Dulce's company lie thousands of kilograms of coffee that, because they have been there for so long (without sales), have lost their particularity in terms of smell and flavor. She refuses to allow her coffee to reach the supermarket shelves, as it could jeopardize the name of the family company.

At 2:00 PM the representative of the marketing firm arrives punctually with the best recommendations in the sector. Dulce explains the reality that his company is going through and after a tour of the warehouse, Peter commits himself to find an outlet for the coffee beans as soon as possible.

Two days passed before Dulce received news from Peter. After a brief telephone conversation, they arranged a meeting for that same afternoon.

Upon Peter's arrival, Dulce offered coffee with milk and vanilla chocolate chip cookies to liven up the meeting, and after tasting the snack they proceeded to the topic of interest.

Coffee bean art, yes, art. Selling a quantity of those beans to local artists for their works such as murals, paintings, unique pieces, among others.

Cushion stuffing. Imagine a coffee lover with a small cushion where he can smell the aroma every day, all day long. Although the beans from Dulce's hacienda have lost their essence, a considerable amount of them wrapped in a subtle fabric would preserve the aroma for a long time.

Crafts in schools. Incorporate coffee beans into the handicrafts that teachers and students do in schools.

Handcrafted jewelry. Offering coffee beans to all the small haberdashery type stores to create a trend in garments such as tendrils, necklaces, bows and more.

And finally, Peter presented a project to incorporate an adult coffee bean pool in the region's plazas. Just like the ball pools for children, adults would enjoy diving into the coffee beans.

Dulce listened carefully to each of the options presented with her customized marketing strategy and despite Peter's enthusiasm, she was incredulous that people would want to involve coffee beans in all of the above.

However, it was the only way to recoup the money from production and even if the profit was not the same, she would be able to meet year-end commitments to her workers.

Peter proposed the collection of his professional fees, once the different projects had been sold. They carried out the signing of the contracts and a few days later, Dulce and the company's sales team, guided by Peter, provided in town and out of town the different options.

The project, which involved the largest grain sale, was the first to be executed. The governor's office enthusiastically received the project of swimming pools for youth and adults in a considerable number of city parks.

Then local artists joined in incorporating coffee beans for their new works, followed by schools, haberdasheries and finally the textile industry for cushions and pillows.

Dulce provided the traditional end-of-year party for its employees and family members, Peter attended as a special guest.

Starting the following year, Dulce's company increased coffee production, as everyone wanted to continue incorporating beans as part of their creative materials. Also, the cushions would need replacement of the filling and the pools would need to maintain the optimum level of beans so that users would not suffer injuries.

I conclude my entry for another creative writing challenge in this coffee community.

I bid you farewell wishing you good vibes 💞

I made the templates in Canva with the free version.