Justin Sieve — Co-Founder | El Quetzal Coffee Co.

Justin Sieve, Co-Founder of El Quetzal Coffee Co.

Justin Sieve — Co-Founder, El Quetzal Coffee Co.

I'm a product manager and technologist with over 15 years of experience building data-driven digital systems. My career has spanned SEO strategy, analytics platforms, and product development across startups and enterprise organizations — from the San Francisco Bay Area to the Midwest.

In 2023, my wife Ana Bendaña and I founded El Quetzal Coffee Co. to continue the Bendaña McEwan family's nearly 80-year legacy of specialty coffee production. We handle the US operations — sourcing, distribution, and direct relationships with roasters and buyers — while Ana's mother, Ana Bendaña McEwan (Doña Ana), manages El Quetzal Estate in Matagalpa, Nicaragua.

What I Bring to Coffee

My background in data, analytics, and product management translates directly to how we operate El Quetzal Coffee Co. We've built a data warehouse tracking every aspect of the business — from SpecConnect weather station readings at the farm to Shopify sales analytics, Google Ads performance, and CRM pipeline management. This infrastructure gives us visibility that most specialty coffee operations don't have, and it lets us make better decisions for our farmers, our buyers, and the quality of every lot we produce.

I'm also building geospatial mapping capabilities using ArcGIS Pro and drone imagery to document our farm operations — work that supports EUDR compliance for our European buyers and creates a visual record of the farm's evolution over time.