RPCV Dave Lintner operates coffee plantation in Nicaragua
Read and comment on this story from the Stockton Record on RPCV Dave Lintner who is a partner in a Coffee Shop in Stockton with roots in Nicaragua. The partners, including Lintner, who operates a coffee plantation in Jalapa, rebuilt the small town, including a church and a school for 25 students. They also keep 500 acres of untouched rain forest as a preserve, he said. "That's what makes us liked by the people," said Mike Atherton, another partner, who estimates having invested $500,000 in modern equipment for the plantation. Read the story at:
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College friendship spawns coffee shop venture S.J. partnership has roots in Nicaragua
By Scott Smith Record Staff Writer Published Monday, May 19, 2003
Most know Mike Atherton as the "A" of AKF Developers -- the trio that has built 3,000 homes in Manteca and turned the old Spreckels Sugar plant into a thriving shopping center.
Now Atherton, 54, is leading his building partners, Bing Kirk and Bill Filios, into a much different venture, one flavored with Nicaraguan coffee beans.
Today, Atherton is opening Jitterz, a coffee shop in Stockton's Lincoln Center. There, customers will sip Jesus Mountain Coffee, a brew the partners import from their 1,000-acre plantation on the side of a mountain in Jalapa, Nicaragua.
"From the seed to the cup, we grow, import and roast it," Atherton said, sitting in his office at Spreckels Business Park. "We grind it, and we brew it."
While Atherton's roots in Stockton extend back generations -- he is a great-grandson of farmer Benjamin Holt -- he also has a long personal relationship with Nicaragua and its coffee beans dating back 30 years.
Beckoned by a friend, Atherton first traveled to the poor and sometimes turbulent Central American country in 1974. ::: Advertisement :::
Dave Lintner, a close friend and fraternity brother from San Jose State University, invited Atherton to Jalapa, a poor community on the side of Sero de Jesus, or Jesus Mountain, a 5,000-foot peak near the border with Honduras.
Lintner served in the Peace Corps in Jalapa and still lives there. Atherton worked there himself for five years on a coffee plantation, but political turmoil sent him back home to Stockton, where he took up construction. Any business prospects in Nicaragua were put on hold.
When he returned five years ago, the idea again sparked. Atherton and his partners bought 28 small plantations, including a small town, totaling 1,000 acres.
"We try to give back a little bit," Atherton said.
The partners, including Lintner, who operates the plantation, rebuilt the small town, including a church and a school for 25 students. They also keep 500 acres of untouched rain forest as a preserve, he said.
"That's what makes us liked by the people," said Atherton, who estimates having invested $500,000 in modern equipment for the plantation.
Atherton said he has no plans to abandon his business as a developer. He said he spends about two hours each morning managing the coffee business via e-mail and phone from his office at Spreckels Park.
"Land has been good to me," Atherton said. "I'm doing the same thing I do every day, but with a different flavor."
Atherton said that despite the fact that Starbucks Coffee is in the same shopping center as Jitterz, he's not easily intimidated. And in six months, when he opens a second Jitterz, in Spreckels Park, Atherton said, he again won't be chased off by Starbucks, which has expressed interest in the same Manteca location.
"Why do I do this?" Atherton asked. "I do this because builders are a dime a dozen in San Joaquin County. Nobody else does this."
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