Ceres Technology was the brainchild of its founders, Bobby Katoli and George W. Hoobler III (Trey). While developing a vertically integrated supply chain for premium coffees, they encountered several issues related to the degraded quality of the product upon arrival. Armed with makeshift sensors to track conditions both outside and inside shipping containers, Bobby and Trey spent six days aboard a cargo ship traveling from Lazaro Cardenas, Mexico, to Buenaventura, Colombia. They gathered valuable data and observed firsthand how various factors, from weather and port operations in Mexico to geopolitical risks involving Humvees and cartel threats in Colombia, could impact the supply chain.
