Francisco “Chico” Lacayo

Expertise: coffee agriculture, coffee sustainability, coffee processing, coffee entrepreneurship, coffee exporting

Coffee insight: Coffee trees take 3 to 4 years to begin producing fruit, but by about 9 years after planting, they only grow cherries on the top of the plant; producers design careful pruning systems to maintain their trees and keep them producing.

Coffee fun fact: The name L53 comes from Francisco’s father, who founded the company: L for “Lacayo” and 53 for the year he was born.

Francisco, who grew up in Nicaragua, got his first introduction to the coffee industry at seven years old when his father became a partner in a coffee farm. Four years later, in 1998, his father purchased his own farm, Finca Buenos Aires in Jinotega, Nicaragua.

But Francisco didn’t initially have plans to join the coffee business. He left Nicaragua to complete his undergraduate degree in Industrial Management at Purdue University, then moved to Miami to work as a business analyst for the airline industry. After completing his international MBA at the Instituto de Empresa in Madrid, he returned to Nicaragua in 2014.

Soon after, his father made him an offer: to purchase a coffee farm together, with Francisco managing operations. Francisco embraced the opportunity, and together they purchased Finca Santa Martha in 2015.

Today, Francisco is general manager of L53 Family Estates, a multifaceted family-run operation that includes L53’s two Rainforest Alliance Certified farms—Finca Buenos Aires and Finca Santa Martha—which grow several varieties of coffee, and co-ownership of a dry mill for processing. The final piece is Francisco’s export company, which allows him to sell his own coffees directly and also offer his services to other coffee producers in the area.

Francisco passion for building long-lasting partnerships drives his approach to coffee, something he learned from watching the way his father did business. “Coffee is a relationship industry. That’s it,” he explains.

That focus on relationships shapes every decision at L53—from traceability initiatives to quality testing to their carefully considered pruning practices, which allow them to produce year-round and build long-standing, successful relationships with their pickers.

For Francisco, it’s simple: “One of the most important things I’ve learned throughout the years in the coffee industry is that your word and the relationship that you make with people is valued the most, and that goes from the relationship you make with the people that work on the farms all the way to the people you sell it to.”

Understanding the complex, challenging process of growing, harvesting, and processing coffee can give coffee drinkers a new perspective on their morning brew. From weather conditions that affect the entire harvest to the skill and dedication of agronomists, pickers, and processors, coffee production is a challenging business, and one that requires constant innovation.

“Once you plant a coffee tree, you want it there for the next 20 to 25 years, so you’ve always got to be thinking differently,” Francisco explains. “You’re always learning in the coffee industry. There’s always something new, something different happening. You can do the same processes year over year, and your coffee will always be different. So that makes it interesting.”

He hopes to see coffee shift away from being treated as a commodity in order to create a market that’s more stable—for producers, roasters, and consumers. “At the end,” he says, “it’s something about finding that balance in the coffee industry where there’s an equality for everybody—like you’re paying the right price for your cup of coffee every morning, but at the [other] end, the picker that is harvesting that coffee cherry in the fields and the farms is also getting a decent salary.”

One of L53’s key values is community—finding ways to support, empower, and invest in the people who contribute to their operations. Their Education Bridge program, designed in partnership with World Vision, offers childcare, meals, and educational opportunities for their workers’ children during the harvest period.

When Francisco thinks about the future of his family’s coffee business, he’s focused on the positive impact he can make in their local communities:

“I definitely feel and hope that I can make a lot of changes, not just in the farms, but mainly in the communities where the farms are. … I want the people to be there and feel happy that they have the opportunity that they work for a great farm. … I think what I want to have is more people with the same values that I have.”

L53 Family Estates website: https://www.l53estates.com

L53 Family Estates Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/l53estates

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