Brauner International

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m the director of a nonprofit organization that has different projects, mainly in the fields of education and economic development. We also work with fair trade.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with Brauner International?

We needed a US customs broker.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

We are importing our coffee from Nicaragua to Pittsburgh. They took care of all the customs in the US and all the institutions that we had to file paperwork with in order to bring in the coffee.

What is the team composition?

I worked with two people.

How did you come to work with Brauner International?

Someone who had worked with them previously gave me their information. I was looking for a company for about a month, but no one answered us. I reached out to them, and Brauner International answered right away.

The funny thing is that we started bringing in our coffee years ago before organic fair trade was around. They might’ve handled our shipping all of those years ago.

How much have you invested with them?

It was around $1,500.

What is the status of this engagement?

We worked with Brauner International from July–August 2020.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

What evidence can you share that demonstrates the impact of the engagement?

The way they handled it has been great. Usually, those types of companies think that you know everything and can get annoyed with all of our questions because we aren’t importers.

Brauner International took the time to write us emails with all the details that fit well with our organization. They were specific to our questions and case.

How did Brauner International perform from a project management standpoint?

They were very good. When importing something, we would have communication with them almost everyday. It depends on the period that your importation takes place. It’s usually a couple of weeks, including shipping from Nicaragua.

What did you find most impressive about them?

Their client service makes them stand out. Previous to working with them, I was working with another company, and they were asking me to contact the FDA to see what I needed.

It took a month already without even knowing what I had to file.

When they contacted me, right away, they told me what I needed. I am not an importer, and the person helping us was able to answer all of our questions and send us emails full of content explaining why we needed things and what we needed to do. It feels good knowing we have all the paperwork.

Are there any areas they could improve?

Not really. I hadn’t done this before, but now I know what the process is like.

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

Approach them. They’re very good, and they know what they are doing, especially if you’re in the food industry.