Just how far would you walk for a cup of coffee?
Community Bean Coffee’s founder, Nathan Stone, has been walking for 19 days on a human-sized hamster wheel to try and fund his new business venture – a sustainable coffee company!
“As I walk, the wheel grinds coffee. I knew it was going to be a slow grind to start a sustainable coffee company, but it is a grind worth doing,” he says.
“Sustainability is an underrated topic in Australian hospitality. Cafes and restaurants produce 250,000 tonnes of waste that end up in landfill annually and 60-80% of that could be diverted to compost.”
Community Bean Coffee are offering ethically sourced beans, that are expertly roasted by the Australian godfather of coffee and it’s then sustainably packaged and shipped. As a social enterprise, Community Coffee Bean will also donate $2 from every kg to Australian charities.
For wholesale clients, each café/restaurant can select a registered charity of their choosing. For Sydney customers who opt in, their coffee will be packed in reusable coffee drums which can be returned with their spent coffee grounds inside. To be composted back into the environment via community gardens.
“If I can use the hamster wheel campaign to launch Community Bean and to encourage the hospitality industry and individuals to divert their coffee grounds and food scraps from landfill into compost, I will consider it a success,” Nathan says.
Community Bean’s roasting partner, Andrew Gross, is known as the Australian godfather of the coffee industry with 40 years’ experience. He brings a foundation of coffee knowledge and a consistency in roasting that new coffee brands can only dream of.
The whole point behind using Indiegogo and the hamster wheel was to presell enough coffee to bulk purchase the home compostable bags and ethically-sourced coffee. Although they didn’t reach their $30,000 target, they’ve proofed that Australian’s want more sustainability in the coffee industry.
Their coffee and packaging have already been purchased for roasting and shipment starting next week.
“What we’ve found popular is cafes purchasing smaller quantities of our black blends instead of their special origins of the week. That, and booking in tastings for after our campaign has finished so that we can create a bespoke sustainable blend for them.”
Nathan has been walking on the wheel for more than 300 hours and living on it for over 500 – eating, sleeping and working – everything is livestreamed and he won’t stop until he meets his business goals on crowd-funding site Indiegogo and can help the hospitality industry be more sustainable!
For more information on wholesale, visit http://communitybean.com.au/wholesale/
For exclusive wholesale rates for small quantities, use this link: https://www.indiegogo.com/projects/2603154/x/23649323?secret_perk_token=bf7758ae
