COO - Coffee Manufactory
Chris Jordan has been in the coffee industry for over 20 years and is a recognised coffee industry leader with experience in all business disciplines; equipped with in-depth experience in sourcing, growing, roasting, quality and retail processes across multiple, diverse geographies.
Chris served as the Chief Executive Officer of Verve Coffee Roasters in Santa Cruz, California. Along with bringing his extensive green coffee quality and supply chain experience to the company, Chris supported Verve’s retail growth ambitions insuring that the brand was positioned to deliver an exceptional experience across all channels.
As the the Director of Coffee Operations at Dormans Coffee in Nairobi Kenya, Chris was responsible for developing the roasted coffee division and restructuring their 9 coffee shops across Kenya. He developed green coffee supply chains in Rwanda and Ethiopia, opening new offices for the company in both countries. Chris also supported Dormans Development and Sustainability platform, successfully obtaining sizable donor funding for many predominant projects across the region.
Prior to working for Dormans, Chris was the Regional Director for the TechnoServe Coffee Initiative funded by the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation. As a new business and one of the Gates Foundations first agricultural grants, Chris helped grow the business from 30 to 400 employees and provided organizational leadership supporting the development of business systems. At the Coffee Initiative, Chris helped roll out programs across East Africa assisting 180,000 smallholder farmers to improve their livelihoods by focusing on quality and productivity. He worked with stakeholders to create positive change in the policy environment supporting government programs to improve capacity.
Prior to TechnoServe Inc., Chris worked for Starbucks for over 14 years. From 2003 until 2008, Chris served as the Director of Coffee Quality in Lausanne, Switzerland. In this role, he supported specialty coffee sourcing in more than 30 countries for the world’s fifth largest coffee roaster purchasing 3 million bags annually. In addition, he developed long-term strategies and plans for green coffee quality programs aligned with the company’s current and future supply needs.
Prior to this role, he was a Green Coffee Manager for Starbucks in the UK and the Netherlands. In both countries, Chris was a senior leader in developing Starbucks’ first two European manufacturing plants. He initiated quality assurance programs including HACCP accreditation and EU regulatory programs.