I love coffee.
If you live in Vancouver, or the Pacific Northwest for that matter, you probably do too.
What better way to celebrate our love of the bean with an expose on a truly unique Vancouver offering – Ethical Bean.
To do that, we sat down with with Kim Schachte, co-owner and co-founder of Ethical Bean to get behind the caffeine. Here’s what we focused on:
1) how they got to be who they now happen to be (and why);
2) if there’s something different about how they treat their customers and the service they give them;
3) what her thoughts are on the Vancouver coffee culture;
4) why people looking for quality coffee (especially Fairtrade Organic Coffee) should choose Ethical Bean.
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1. State your name, rank and serial number. If you don’t have one, surprise us.
Kim Schachte, Creative Director, co-founder and co-owner of Ethical Bean.
2. How (and why) did Ethical Bean come to be? What’s the thought behind it?
Ethical Bean was inspired by a period my husband Lloyd (ed: pictured to the right with Kim) and I spent in Guatemala during the adoption of our first child, daughter Amelia. At that time, we were just coffee lovers. While in Guatemala we toured coffee fincas and learned about coffee, how it is harvested and processed. We also learned about the plight of farmers and how opportunistic coyotes (or middle-men) preyed upon their bad fortunes. Often times, we were told, they were forced to sell their future crops at prices far below the cost of production in order to put food on the table.
When we returned to Vancouver with Amelia four months later, we were changed. Maybe it was something to do with being new parents as well that gave us the idea to search for a deeper connection to what we were working at. We began with the idea that we wanted to give back to the Guatemalan community that had given us so much. This research led us to coffee, and with marginalized farmers in mind, eventually to Fairtrade Organic coffee.
It became our mission during the development of Ethical Bean Coffee that we would bring Fairtrade Certified Organic coffee out into the light. To produce only Fair Trade Certifed Organic throughout our line, which at that time wasn’t being done by anyone. Additionally, we were committed to sustainability, which would be the driving force for everything we did. We developed the tagline “just. better.”, combined with the company name, Ethical Bean, to communicate our message to our customers.
3. In simple terms, perhaps to someone who isn’t familiar with the Fairtrade Oragnic concept, explain what Ethical Bean does (and why they do it better than the rest).
Guided by our intention to be just and better, Ethical Bean not only supplies the best tasting 100 percent Fairtrade Certified Organic coffee, we have built our roastery to LEED (Leader in Energy and Environmental Design) CI Standards, introduced a bag recycling program, become a B-Company member, and are carbon neutral, among other things. We are continually searching for new ways to stay one step ahead. If it’s not just. better. we just don’t do it.
Our most recent introduction is our new free iPhone app (other phones soon) that enables customers to scan our coffee bags to discover cupping notes, watch video blogs, and Google Map the exact location of the farm where the coffee was grown, all from the grocery aisle.
4. Explain a typical day for you (and the staff) at Ethical Bean, if there is such a thing.
It’s go, go, go here and everyone is fueled by coffee.
5. We’re a big coffee city, as you know. That said, we’ve seen (and reviewed) plenty of ‘big chain’ and ’boutique’ coffee shops around town. What are your thoughts on the proliferation of the coffee bean on the Vancouver scene?
The more coffee shops in town the better the coffee – competition keeps the bar set high. Of course, now that Vancouver is officially a Fair Trade Town, it would be nice to see more places serving Fairtrade Certified Coffee.
6. Is coffee and all of its incarnations trendy or is it here for the long-haul? What would your advice be to the non-believers and the non-drinkers?
I think coffee’s here for the long-haul. It just plain makes you feel good, and energized. Ethical Bean is here to provide the best overall coffee experience. To create a new kind of connection and conversation between coffee producers and coffee lovers. And to do that in the most respectful way possible.
7. How does your staff focus on your customer and make them feel like they’re important? Has this been a challenge as you’ve blasted on to the Vancouver landscape?
Everyone here is an embassador for Ethical Bean. If a customer has a problem with our coffee, we’ll go out of our way to fix it. We’ve even helped fix people’s home espresso makers just so they can get the absolutely best cup of coffee they can at home.
8. What have some of your criticisms been (either as an entrepreneur or as a business)? What’s changed because of it?
Our biggest complaint has been the non-recyclability of our packaging. This unfortunately is a problem that all high quality coffee roasters face if they sell to retailers. The problem is that we have to keep the coffee as fresh and safe as possible and the bags we use are the only ones that do that. We’re constantly testing and researching other more environmentally friendly solutions to our packaging, but until that day comes we can only do our best to find ways to upcycle the bags. We’ve also instituted a bag return policy so our customers can bring back their used coffee bags (even those of our competitors) and we’ll store them until we can find a viable way of reusing/recycling them.
9. Part of the customer experience, we think, is getting something ‘when’ you want it and ‘how’ you want it. How does Ethical Bean ‘dot these i’s and cross these t’s’? Is it consistent?
Quality and consistency in our product are our top priorities. We have a full-time Q Grader (ed: Aaron De Lazzer, pictured to the right) who tests our coffees daily for quality and consistency. He also happens to be the very first Q Grader in Canada and our facility is HACCP compliant.
10. Describe the best and the worst customer experience with Ethical Bean that you are aware of.
There are many happy customer stories – too many to mention. Rarely, customers have questions about the coffee that they have purchased and we answer each of these questions personally. If they have bought a coffee that is not to their liking, we replace it. A ‘memorable’ customer experience that comes to mind is kind of embarrassing. A former Ethical Bean employee driving our branded Prius from a demo downtown cut off another car and made a rude gesture. Given that the phone number is rather largely printed by the name of the company it did not take long for the driver of the other car to contact us…
11. Has throughput been as anticipated since opening?
We’ve been doing incredibly well. Fair Trade Certified Organic coffee has grown considerably over the years since we started. People are becoming aware of the benefits that Fair Trade can bring for farmers in coffee growing regions. We are doubling our production space, expanding product offerings and expanding into new markets.
12. What’s your five year plan for Ethical Bean? What would help advance this? What would throw a wrench into it?
Being just. better. Continuing to live by these words keeps us on track. Not heeding our mission and values would throw a wrench into our plans.
13. Who has been your role model or inspiration in life, coffee and/or business?
To do the right thing. An early inspiration was Joseph Campbell’s advice to “follow your bliss”. Bliss for me means bringing integrity into everything I do, and striking a balance between work, family, community and time spent connected to nature.
14. In 30 words or less, put the following words into a cohesive sentence: pepper corn, extension cord, running shoes, and erasable ball point pen.
I tie my running shoes with an extension cord to keep my pepper corns comfortable, and my erasable ball point pen keeps track of my time.
15. Finally, is there anything you can offer to the readers of this interview who comment on their experience with Ethical Bean (either good or bad)?
We’re here to do the right thing. We WANT to do the right thing, and we listen to our customers.